The Programmes Manager of the National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Programme, Dr. Frank Adae Bonsu has advised Ghanaians to buy two handkerchiefs or more for worship during this Easter festivities to prevent the spread of Tuberculosis.

Dr. Bonsu made the appeal in a chat with Adom FM’s Kofi Adomah, saying that even though handkerchiefs per se do not cause TB, a TB patient could spread the causal agent of TB if sneezes or coughs into a handkerchief and proceed to wave it during praise and worship at mass programmes.

“My advice is all Christians should have two handkerchiefs- one for praising God and one for cleaning your nose or mouth- because in the joy of praising the lord, your infested handkerchief if waved, can spread TB though a handkerchief does not cause TB, you should know that TB is an airborne disease”, Dr Adae advised.

Currently Ghana is not among the 22 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries named by the World Health Organisation (WHO), yet the disease is a major health problem in the country.

With an estimated 47,632 new TB cases in 2007, Ghana ranks 19th in Africa with the highest estimated number of new cases per year, according to WHO’s Global TB Report 2009. But Dr Adae believes Ghana can stop the spread of TB if precautions are adhered to.

Meanwhile some pastors have been sharing their thoughts on this controversial matter.

President of the Ghana Pentecostal Council, Apostle John Annan Adotey has endorsed the call saying, “no Christian should have an excuse for spreading the TB Virus”.

According to him if you have only one handkerchief then you either dedicate it to God or your nose.

“I fully endorse this call, in fact it is an excellent one. No one should be so poor that he cannot afford two handkerchiefs. Members spend so much on funerals and so should be able to comply. In the case where a church member has only one handkerchief, he should choose either to use it to praise the lord or praise his nose”, he said.

Story: Kofi Adomah/Adom News