The Assin Central Municipality in the Central Region recorded a drastic reduction in tuberculosis (TB) cases from 74 in 2016 to 56 in 2017.
Mrs Admire Owusu, the Assin Central Municipal Disease Control Officer, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-line of a durbar to mark the World TB Day in Assin Fosu.
She said the substantial reduction was mainly due to the intensive education carried out by health workers and Community Based Health Volunteers as well as Regional and Municipal TB Coordinators.
Mrs Owusu said under the TB Control Programme, there were effective drugs for treating the disease free-of-charge with financial support to patients.
According to her, TB remained a major health issue with over a third of the world population exposed to the disease, which explained why the World Health Organisation and 500 other organisations initiated the annual celebration of World TB Day.
Touching on the causes and prevention of TB, she noted that the infectious disease was spread through coughing, sneezing, spitting and stressed the need for all to cover the mouth when coughing.
She encouraged the public to go for diagnosis whenever they experienced continuous coughing for more than 10 days, as early detection of the disease hastened treatment.
Mr Owusu called on corporate institutions to support the efforts of the National TB Control Programme to be able to end TB before the target year of 2035, as set in the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Global End TB Strategic Plan.
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Source: GNA