HIV/TB PREVENTION WORKSHOP ENDS AT BONGO (PAGE 21)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bongo

SIXTY-EIGHT community volunteers have attended a sensitisation workshop at Bongo in the Upper East Region on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis prevention.
The Ghana Poultry Network (GHAPNET), in collaboration with the Bongo District Health Management Team, organised the workshop.
Members of the team later extended the sensitisation exercise to churches, schools and other social gatherings.
A representative of GHAPNET, Mr Godson Coffie, in an address, stressed the need for collaboration between the public and private sectors to fight the two diseases, since health workers alone could not monitor and manage the disease without public support. ”We are all at risk because TB is no respecter of persons,” he stressed.  
Mr Coffie urged the public to encourage people suffering from the diseases to seek treatment at the hospital.
The District TB Co-ordinator, Madam Faustina Bezen, elaborated extensively on the relationship between TB and HIV.
She disclosed that 21 new cases of tuberculosis were recorded in the district last year, adding that as of April this year, 10 new cases of the disease had been reported to the hospital.
While urging the people to seek early treatment at the hospital, Madam Bezen stated that TB treatment was free, and therefore implored the people not to hesitate to report any health personnel who charged victims of the disease.
According to her, the newly introduced TB treatment package improved access to TB patients, as they were treated in their communities.
The District Director of the Veterinary Services Department, Dr Shittu Mohammed, in a presentation, advised the public on the need to pasteurise their fresh cow milk before use.
He disclosed that the Veterinary Service of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture had been carrying out periodic TB sampling tests, adding that Veterinary Public Health officers were on high alert to detect other forms of TB in tissues and organs at the various slaughter houses.
The Paramount Chief of Bongo, Naba Aleemyaarum Salifu, who chaired the function, commended the organisers of the event for their efforts, and tasked the participants to encourage all suspected TB patients to report to health institutions for testing and possible treatment.
He emphasised the need for them to encourage TB patients to go through the treatment course to reduce the prevalence of TB in the district.