Health Professionals Expose TB Patients to Stigmatization in Society: Insights from Communities in an Urban District in Ghana.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how the activities and attitudes of health professionals expose TB patients to stigmatization in the community.


METHODS
Qualitative research approach using individual interviews and focus groups


METHODS
Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan district in the western region of Ghana


METHODS
Members in nine communities in the district


METHODS
Words and statements that depict how activities and attitudes of health professionals may expose TB patients to stigmatization


RESULTS
Five interrelated ways by which activities and attitudes of health professionals may expose TB patients to stigmatization in the community were identified in data: TB control practices; fear-based responses to TB; inappropriate health education messages; medical licensing for sellers; and prohibition of burial rites.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings may explain the diagnostic delay and low TB case detection rate in Ghana. This calls for intensification of education on TB and regular organization of refresher courses and possibly retraining of health professionals in TB control and management. When health professionals are seen to be treating TB patients as 'normal' individuals, it has the potential of changing the society's perception about the disease.
Dodor
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Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Communicable Diseases Unit, P.O. Box 229, Sekondi, Ghana.