Some survivors of tuberculosis (TB) have urged those living with the condition to make taking their medication their optimum goal if they want to stay alive.

They said even though the daily intake of the medication and its after-effects effects could be very difficult, the medications were their only means to survive the disease and stay alive, adding that without them, they would die.

They have further called on the general public to do regular screening of the disease since its early detection saves lives.

The survivors, who were sharing their harrowing experiences with the disease while undergoing treatment - from their daily battle with the after effects of the TB medications, stigma from the public, including health workers and the complications they had to live with after being cured of the disease, gave the advice at a two-day training programme on Drug-Resistant TB (DR-TB) organised by Ghana National TB Voice Network (GNTBVN).

The training, which was for health workers, journalists and survivors of TB, formed part of a nine-month grant on DR-TB by Challenge Facility for Civil Society 2025 being implemented in the Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra and Central regions.

The four regions were chosen for the implementation of the grant because they have the highest burden of DR-TB case notification in Ghana. 

The survivors (full names withheld) were being trained to be advocates and champions in their communities by finding and identifying people with suspected TB cases, facilitating their screening and ensuring they were referred to a facility for diagnosis. 

Treatment

A survivor from the Central Region, Bridgette, describing her treatment regime after being diagnosed with the disease, said she had to receive a daily injection for a year, after which she was put on an eigth-month medication and these, she said, somehow made her unable to walk, she felt very weak, suffered severe weight loss and loss of appetite for food.

She said these after-effects from the treatment made it difficult for her to sometimes continue with her medication, but she did because she found the medication to be her only means to survive.

"Indeed, I survived the disease after a long battle. I've been able to write the BECE, attend senior high school, and now I am at the university pursuing tertiary education," she said.

Nicholas, another survivor, who had TB and was cured, but two years after that cure, he was diagnosed with DR-TB, said the medications he was taking at the time were so many that it wasn't easy swallowing them.

However, he said, because he was determined to survive the disease, he took them and soon started recovering.

As a result, he said he was often approached by health workers at the hospital where he was on admission to encourage other patients who were reluctant to take their medication on the benefits of doing so.

He said TB was killing a lot of people and, therefore, appealed to the government to increase funding in that area to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to enable them to increase awareness of the disease.

For Lawrence, a survivor, who said the disease cost him his vocation, his wife and his 13-year old daughter got pregnant because of his absence while seeking treatment, urged those diagnosed with the disease to go to the hospital and take their medication religiously.

For Rita, who had her pregnancy terminated when started treatment, she urged TB patients to find out what to do and what not to do when they start the medication.

Stigma

The acting Programme Manager of the National TB Programme,  Dr Bernard Ziem, who was not happy about stories of stigmatisation by health facilities, urged healthcare workers to treat all patients with respect.

For those who had been diagnosed with the disease, he said the medications were free, so none of them should pay for them at health facilities, adding that they should endeavour to stay on treatment till they were completely cured of the disease.

A medical doctor at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr Woedem A. Tettey, said TB could destroy the lungs, cause one to have difficulty in breathing, get tired easily and affect one's daily routine.

"So if you are diagnosed early and treatment is given, it makes it possible that the lungs are not destroyed to a point where they cannot function anymore.

If you have TB and you are not diagnosed for a very long time, then it gives the disease the opportunity to destroy your lungs and even go into other parts of the body and cause destruction, " she advised.