Ghana Health Service (GHS), the health services governing body is considering adopting social media platforms to educate a large number of the youth on the measures to curb the spread of the Tuberculosis disease and fight stigmatization in the country.
The Director-General (DG) of the GHS, Dr. Anthony Nsiah Asare relayed this information at a forum to commemorate this year’s World Tuberculosis Day in Accra.
According to him, social media is the trend among the youth in recent times and majority of them are using and its fast becoming part of their life styles in the country.
So, there is the need to tap into the services of the platform to educate the youth on the disease, Tuberculosis to remove the stigma attached to it and let them know is curable he maintained.
He stressed that social media is the best way to go in targeting the youth to get educated about the disease which is associated with stigmatization.
It will not be bad for messages to be sent on Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter among others to the young people to educate them on the dos and don’ts of the disease he noted.
He stressed that the GHS intends to roll out technologies in the treatment of patients suffering from TB by making use of video screenings and conferencing.
He said technology can be used to identify patients as well as their treatment needs in the country.
He said the service will continue to support TB control activities in the country to achieve In another breadth, Dr. Frank Adae Bonsu, the Programmes Manager of National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) painted a gloomy picture of the situation the country is in when it comes to the fight against TB.
According to him, not much has been done in monitoring the indicators over the past five years adding that the passion and drive by health care providers working in TB control is not palpable any more.
He stated that the energy of optimism in staff of TB control is losing steam, if care is not taken it will erode, if the right leadership and commitment are not provided in support of TB control.
The Deputy Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Weija in the Greater Accra Region, Tina Mensah explained that the Ministry has promptly responded to the Global strategy and developed a health sector strategic response to end TB in Ghana by 20230.
‘Our goal is to reduce death rates by 80 percent, incidence rate by 90 percent and remove catastrophic cost to patients.
It is in line with this context that this year’s theme for the World TB day ‘Wanted: Leaders for TB free Ghana is most appropriate”.
Source:happyghana.com
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