TB IS PREVALENT IN MPOHOR WASSA EAST (PAGE 31, SEPT 25)

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is prevalent in the Mpohor Wassa East District of the Western Region as a result of poor housing and nutrition, as well as the lifestyle of the people.
A total of 138 cases of the disease were detected in the district between 2007 and June, this year.
The District Disease Control Officer, Mr Joseph Kwabena Arthur, revealed this to the Daily Graphic after the celebration of the district’s TB Day at Sekyere Krobo.
He attributed some of the causes of the disease in the district to poor diet, adding that many people were living in small, poorly ventilated rooms.
According to Mr Arthur, excessive intake of alcohol and smoking also accounted for the high prevalence rate of the disease.
He said even though the prevalence of the disease was high, the detection rate was rather low; around 38 per cent.
Mr Arthur said the District Health Administration had adopted strategies to detect people affected by the disease.
He said community health volunteers had been formed to mount intensive public education on the disease to help reduce its occurrence.
Mr Arthur said traditional rulers, opinion leaders and the communities would be encouraged to assist in the detection of the disease in the district.
He stated that treatment supporters such as family members, health workers or assembly members in the communities would be identified to ensure that those suffering from the disease took their medication regularly and also completed the medication for the six-month period.
He explained that the treatment supporters would also report all problems that would emanate from the treatment to the clinics, health centres or hospitals that were treating affected persons.
According to Mr Arthur, the district had been divided into sub-districts for the detection and compilation of TB cases.
The District Director of Health Services, Ms Priscilla Amoah, urged the people to discard the notion that TB infection was spiritual.
She also allayed the fears of the people that the disease was not curable, adding that there were enough drugs for the effective cure of TB.
Ms Amoah stressed that all drugs for the treatment of the disease were given for free.
She stated that the low detection rate of people suffering from the disease was due to the stigma attached to it.
Ms Amoah advised them to report to the nearest clinic, health centre or hospital for the necessary test to be done if they had been coughing for a long time, to prevent the spread of the disease in the district and beyond.
The Deputy District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Mahama M. Sensau, who represented the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Anthony Bassaw, called on the people to assist the health professionals to reduce the prevalence rate of the disease.
Mr Sensau said the district assembly would assist the Ghana Health Service to eradicate the disease from the district.
He lamented the re-emergence of TB in the society and stressed the need to mount an intensive public education on the situation.