REDUCTION IN TUBERCULOSIS CASES BA (PAGE 11)

By Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Pamdu

A TOTAL of 210 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) are expected in the Kintampo South district of the Brong Ahafo Region every year. However, out of the total number of 150 people screened in 2007, only 10 had contracted the disease and so far for this year, four cases have been recorded in the district.
The Medical Director of the Jema Hospital, Dr Kofi Amoako Gyamfi who disclosed this at the Kintampo South District’s celebration of this year’s World TB Day at Pamdu near Jema, the district capital, pointed out that, the main objectives of the TB control outfit were to reduce mortality and morbidity due to the disease, reduce the transmission of infection until it no longer poses a threat to the public and also to prevent the development of drug resistance.
According to Dr Gyampah, 50 per cent of the people with TB of the lungs will die in five years and that 25 per cent of them will have chronic TB and continue to spread the disease while another 25 per cent will get better but may fall sick again.
The Medical Director further noted that, most cases of TB and HIV occur between the economically productive age ranges from 15-50 year, adding that, one untreated TB case would infect approximately 10-15 people every year.
Dr Gyampah disclosed that, in 2005, Ghana only detected 31 per cent of patients and the treatment success rate was 72.6 per cent while 66.7 per cent were cured and either 9.3 died or 11.4 per cent defaulted from treatment.
According to him, some of the challenges facing the control of the disease were that, many people do not report to health facilities while others were malnourished due to poverty, the increase of HIV/AIDS cases in the district, the lack of technical staff to help laboratory diagnosis, lack of motivation for staff as well as the stigma attached to the disease.
He, therefore, suggested the training of laboratory personnel to improve upon diagnosis, education of community members on the disease and its relationship with HIV/AIDS, motivation of staff to follow-up cases and educate patients on the consequence of defaults.
Mr Andy Seglah, the Project Co-ordinator of Foundation for Better Tomorrow (FOBET), a local Non-governmental Organization (NGO), which is actively involved in the control of TB, disclosed that, his organization had so far trained 30 volunteers to undertake house-to-house education and that another 30 volunteers would also receive training.
He noted that, one factor that was contributing to TB resurgence was the failure of patients to complete the full six to nine months of antibiotic therapy required to cure the disease.
According to Mr Seglah, many people stop taking antibiotics when they begin to feel healthier but pointed out that, successful treatment of TB requires therapy beyond the stipulated period for obvious reasons, and stressed that, when patients fail to follow the prescribed treatment, they may become actively infectious and spread the disease to others.
The Project Co-ordinator further observed that, migration, international air travel and tourism have also contributed to the global spread of TB, and that, the extreme difficulty of screening immigrants and travelers for TB, allows the disease to cross international borders easily.