Workshop in Ghana encourages NGOs, volunteers to bolster TB control efforts

Oct 13 2008

Volunteer community health workers and nongovernmental organizations should collaborate with Ghana's health sector to enhance the country's capacity to curb the spread of tuberculosis, Austin Arinze, national coordinator of the Stop TB Ghana Partnership, said recently in Winneba, Ghana, during a two-day workshop, GNA/My Joy Online reports.

The workshop -- organized by Stop TB Ghana and the Afro Global Alliance -- aimed to provide 100 volunteers with information about TB control and train them to promote awareness about the disease through community involvement. During the workshop, participants discussed the causes, prevention and treatment of TB; the state of TB in Ghana; the role of community volunteers; and DOTS implementation. Abudu Imoro, program manager of Afro Global Alliance, said the workshop would help volunteers use communication skills to spread messages about TB and initiate behavior change in their communities. Arinze said that the Ghanaian government cannot combat TB alone, adding that volunteers will be essential in community-level efforts to control the disease.

Volunteers can disseminate TB messages at clubs, faith-based organizations, homes, markets and schools, Kwesi Addo, chair of Stop TB Ghana, said, adding that monitoring and support visits to people at an increased risk of contracting TB could help prevent the disease from spreading. Addo also expressed concern that community workers in Ghana's central region will need to improve TB detection, prevention and treatment to meet the targets of the country's National TB Control Program (GNA/My Joy Online, 10/9).