Stopping Tuberculosis in Ghana

In Ghana, the Ministry of Health describes tuberculosis as the most common cause of lost healthy lives due to premature deaths. An estimated 10,000 deaths due to tuberculosis occur in Ghana each year. In 2003, Ghana projects more than 40,000 new cases of tuberculosis in its population of 20 million people.

Currently, private health facilities lag behind the public sector in the management of this disease. A Global Fund grant of more than US$2 million will promote equitable access to prevention, care, support and treatment for all people affected by tuberculosis. Supporting private- sector participation in the national tuberculosis control program and improving the quality of directly observed treatment, short-course, (DOTS) programs within the private sector are chief goals of the program supported by the Global Fund.

To enable the expansion of DOTS coverage, financing will underwrite the training of 450 metropolitan and privatesector health-care workers, improvements to private-sector laboratory facilities, the renovation of 60 DOTS centers, the introduction of home visits to tuberculosis patients and the coordination of public and private-sector activities to combat tuberculosis.

By using incentives such as providing equipment and training, the Ministry of Health hopes to encourage the private sector to coordinate with the National Tuberculosis Control Program. It is anticipated that within five years, 95 percent of all private facilities will be coordinated with the national program. This will promote a more uniform approach to treatment and care, consistent with the work of the Stop TB Partnership.

By the end of two years, Ghana expects to have used the Global Fund grant to increase case detection rates by 10 percent and increase cure rates from 50 percent to 70 percent at private health-care facilities in Ghana’s two largest cities, Accra and Kumasi. This program builds upon a strategy now used by the Metropolitan Health Services and the National Tuberculosis Control Program, which improves detection of tuberculosis, manages the implementation of DOTS and provides quality care for tuberculosis patients.

As one of the first countries in the world to receive Global Fund financing, Ghana is already using more than 40 percent of the funds committed for two years to train health-care workers and to provide DOTS.