Chetu, UWR, Dec. 23, GNA - There has been low detection of tuberculo= sis (TB) cases in the Lambussie/Karni District due to fear of stigmatisation. Some health authorities also attributed the situation to general apath= y and unwillingness to report to health facilities with cough for diagnosis and investigation.

Madam Francisca Bagni, Lambussie/Karni District Director of Health Services, made this known in a speech read on her behalf at the inauguratio= n of a 45,000 Ghana Cedi Community Based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compound at Chetu on Tuesday. The District Wide Assistance Project (DWAP) funded the facility, which would provide quality health care services to a population of 2,096, made u= p of 997 males and 1,099 females in the Chetu, Tapuma and Nichile Communities= .. Madam Bagni advised people in the area to avoid stigmatisation and patronise health facilities for early diagnoses and treatment of TB cases, pointing out that the disease was curable and its treatment was also free. She announced that the district health directorate had embarked on: "Know your HIV and AIDS Status Campaign," and making counsellors availa= ble at vantage points to provide voluntary counselling and testing of HIV and AIDS in the area.

She said knowing one's HIV and AIDS status was one of the surest way= s to live happily, while assuring the people of confidentiality in the handling of information about their health status. Madam Bagni reminded the people about Cerebrum Spinal Meningitis (CSM) which often emerge in the dry seasons and advised them to sleep in airy rooms and avoid overcrowding. She said the district assembly in collaboration with the district healt= h directorate had made provisions for the construction of 18 CHPS compounds, and of the number, nine of them had been functional, aimed to improve healt= h care services to people in the communities.

She commended the Japanese International Development Agency (JICA) for supporting the CHPS compounds with motorbikes, drugs and non-drug consumables. Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, who inaugurated the facility, said access to quality health care delivery was a strong pillar in the government's 93Better Ghana Agenda" and that government was working hard to make it a reality.

He said a lot of activities had taken place over the past two years o= f President John Atta Mills' administration, aimed at achieving universal access to quality healthcare services for the people. He said a number of regional and district hospitals would be constructed throughout the country of which the Upper West Region would benefit from a Regional Hospital in Wa to take care of referral cases. Alhaji Salia announced that a Polyclinic would be constructed at Lambussie, which would in the future turn into a district hospital. He urged the district assembly to continue to sponsor more students to health training institutions to come out and man the facilities.