In the fight to eradicate TB from Ghana, the Aurum Institute Ghana has donated medical equipment valued over Ghc20,000 to two health institutions, Iran Clinic and Lapaz Community Hospital all in Accra to commemorate this year’s World TB Day.
The event which is on the theme “Yes! We can end TB,” was to inspire confidence and promote the commitment of key stakeholders in investing to combat the TB pandemic, especially in the context of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and how collectively we can bring an end to the old age disease.
TB, which is an infectious disease causes a catastrophic impact on the lives of many Ghanaians and the world at large.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), almost 28,000 people become ill with the curable and avoidable disease each day, and over 41,000 people die from it.
Aurum Institute Ghana in collaboration with Ghana Health Service and the National TB Control Programme in their effort to eradicate the disease from Ghana for the past five years has supported medical facilities with essential TB commodities to enhance TB services in their facilities and also to ensure it effective fight in the various communities in which they operate.
Among the medical equipment donated to the two private medical institutions to mark this year’s occasion Includes; 6000 Sputum Containers, 5000 COVID-19 Antigen Test kits, 5lts of 40 gallons Liquid Soap, 48 packs of Tissue Towels, 40 pieces of disposal gowns, 2000 pieces of Face masks (KN95), 10 Packs of Surgical Gloves, and 960pcs Face shield.
The Country Director of Aurum Institute Ghana, Ms Ernestina Baba Sam, revealed that the institute played a leading role in the prevention of TB and the adoption of a shorter course of preventive therapy called 3HP.
Ms Baba said, “there is the need to scale up in the country to reach most of the vulnerable populations who need this intervention. We need to ensure effective engagement of all stakeholders including the private sector to scale up TB Preventive Therapy to end TB.”
She called for more donor partners and also institutions to increase their financial commitments and investment in research towards the development of newer, more effective tools and treatments for TB.
This, she said can help improve patient outcomes and reduce transmission of the disease, particularly drug-resistant forms of TB.
The Medical Director of Iran Clinic, Dr Seyed M. A. Salahatpour who received the medical items on behalf of the Clinic, thanked Management of Aurum Institute Ghana for the donation saying, they all have a common goal towards the eradication of TB.
He said Iran Clinic and Aurum Institute Ghana have been in partnership for over five years in the fight against TB in Ghana, and assured of it for commitment to put the items to good use.
Receiving the items on behalf of the Lapaz Community Hospital, the Head of Clinical and Operations at the facility, Dr. Allotey Addo said, the medical items would go a long way to help people in the community and its environs.
He, therefore, thanked Aurum Institute Ghana for the continuous support given to the hospital to enable them to function effectively.
Giving the statistics about TB in Ghana, the Technical Officer for National TB Program, Mrs Adelaide Sackey, TB remains a major public health threat in Ghana and globally.
Mrs Sackey said according to WHO, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death. In Ghana, about 30 people lose their lives each day from TB and 125 people fall ill daily.
She said for Ghana to end TB, there is the need to engage all such as institutions, academic research, business or investment, CSOs-advocacy, media daily advocacy, executives, judiciary and legislature-for
advocacy, political will against stigma, discrimination,
There should be a programme geared toward embarking on paediatric screening to identify all paediatric cases to ensure they are put on treatment, ensure all patients who are tested negative for TB are put in TB preventive
treatment, there should be an urgent investment of resources and deliberate efforts to provide diagnostic tools for all TB cases.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for Aurum Institute Ghana, Adziedzom Awalime charged people to always seek medical attention at the hospital anytime they experience continue coughing, instead of going to buy cough mixtures at the drug stores.
Aurum Institute Ghana is an African Public Benefit Organization whose mission is to improve the health of people and communities living in poverty through innovation in global health research, systems, and delivery.
