Madam Cecilia Senoo, the Executive Director, Hope for Future Generations (HFFG), a health focus non governmental organisation, has urged the Government to invest covid levy in HIV and TB campaign.
She said having declared officially that COVID-19 pandemic had ended in the country, it was only prudent that the levy was converted as domestic resources to end HIV, malaria and TB.
Madam Senoo said this at a day’s sensitisation for media practitioners on reporting on TB.
She said HIV, malaria and TB killed more than five million people a year globally and said ‘once Covid-19 is no more, let’s use these monies to save lives’.
Madam Senoo said for instance In 2021, incidence of tuberculosis for Ghana was 136 cases per 100,000 people and that it was time the country supported co-financing of the Global Fund and GAVI grants to ensure sustainability and ownership of their programmes.
Edward W. Scott, Jr., founder and Chairman of Friends of the Global Fight, which provides support, with the assistance of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for The Global Fund to Fight for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, in an article, said progress in fighting those diseases had been facilitated by the dramatic increase in resources provided by international donors, including the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Madam Senoo said domestic funding of the campaign against the three diseases could strengthen the health system and build community systems to help find cases for treatment.
Dr Yaw Adusi-Poku, Programme Manager, National TB Control Programme, said two people died every hour from TB globally and advocated the use of town health committees to stop TB in Ghana.
Chief Austin Arinze Oblefuna, Vice Chair, Stop TB Partnership Board, said: ‘The pandemic we have now is TB. Covid is gone. Instead of preparing for any future pandemic, let’s deal with what we have now.’
The participants were taken through reporting on TB.
Source: Ghana News Agency