Don't leave Ghana's health care in hands of donors — University Don

A professor of medical microbiology at the University of Ghana Medical School College of Health Sciences, Nicholas Tete Kwaku Dzifa Dayie, has charged the government not to leave the country's health care in the hands of donors since the withdrawal of their support could cripple the entire system.

He said it was time Ghana took its health seriously with full control of operations from research to infrastructure through to human capacity for a sustained all-year health delivery.

Prof. Dayie was delivering his inaugural lecture as a full professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, last Thursday.

The inaugural lecture for full professors was introduced by the university for such individuals to showcase their works and demonstrate their capacities in their newly found environment.

Speaking on the topic: "When microbes speak, and data appear inconsistent, are we witnessing falsehood or truth?" the professor said falsehood in this context did not conote dishonesty on the part of the laboratory worker.

Rather, it meant distortions introduced by weak laboratory systems, poor diagnostics, inconsistent methods and surveillance data that failed to adequately reflect what the microbes were truly saying.

"Falsehood does not mean falsifying of figures that are reported to the doctor," he explained.

Sadly, he said, only about two per cent of Ghanaian laboratories had up-to-scratch equipment that could investigate in detail what the microbes were saying, calling for a national retooling without relying on foreign donors.

AMR

Touching on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), the lecturer said research indicated that in 2019, 1.27 million deaths were attributable to bacteria and microbial resistance.

Again, 4.95 million deaths were associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance globally in 2019.

"Based on these statistics, it has been projected that by 2050, 10 million people would lose their lives every year and the majority of the burden in South Saharan Africa," he said.

On its economic implications, Prof. Dayie pointed out that in 2017 alone, it cost 300 billion dollars to the global economy and by 2050, it is projected that 100 trillion dollars would be lost, leading to a 23 per cent reduction in  the world's GDP.

By 2050, he said, antimicrobial resistance would kill more than tetanus infection, road traffic accidents, diarrhoea, diabetes, cholera and cancers.

"So AMR is considered a silent pandemic," he said.

In Ghana, in 2019, 5,900 deaths were directly attributable to AMR due to infections caused by AMR.

In the same year, 25,300 deaths were associated with AMR, and studies have shown that out of 204 countries, Ghana was ranked 35th in 2021 for deaths linked to AMR.

On how AMR shows itself in infections that cause such diseases, Prof. Dayie said the leading infections syndrome contributing to mortality in Ghana were a stream of infectious bacteria infecting the blood, lower respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea, tuberculosis and meningitis.

He said that called for strengthening of blood culture systems, respiratory diagnostics and stool culture, which should be a national priority.

Indeed, he stated that infections contributing to most mortalities were also the infections for which strong microbiology systems were most needed.

Fortunately, he said, Ghana had developed many protocols and guidance for AMR detection in the environmental sector; integrated standard operating proceedures as well as laboratory quality and safety manuals for AMR surveillance.