Foundation moves to tame high TB incidence in Keffi

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), has indicated readiness, to harness necessary support and partnership to tame the incidences of TB in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
The Foundation made this known when it commemorated 2019 world TB day in Nasarawa State.
AHF in a statement issued yesterday by Steve Aborisade, its Advocacy and Marketing Manager, said the community sensitisation program and partnership building brought both government and notable civil society actors to converge on Keffi, Nasarawa State on March 25, in commemoration of the World TB day, and to review and adopt a roadmap of action for Keffi local government area of the state.
It added that the choice of Keffi, Nasarawa state, according to AHF Country Program Director, Dr. Echey Ijezie, ‘‘is to respond to the reality of high TB incidence being recorded in Nasarawa state, by leveraging on AHF’s public engagement speciality to create awareness, educate the people, but importantly getting them to test for both TB and HIV/AIDS.
The statement further said that on the 2019 World TB Day, AHF had called on countries and global public health institutions to ensure everyone affected by TB can access treatment and that resources are made available to fight this epidemic.
“This call, is particularly crucial for Nigeria, because of the country’s TB status: 407,000 people in Nigeria have TB each year, while the country is ranked 7th among the 30 high TB burden countries and second in Africa with 154,000 people dying each year from TB.
There is a missing 300,000 cases of TB in Nigeria, 300, 000 people with TB but unaware, or are not on treatment (tbfacts.org).
“According to WHO, 30,000 children get TB in Nigeria each year.
Whereas 47,000 children are eligible to receive preventative treatment, while, only about 8,500 children actually receive this preventative treatment, while an estimated 115,000 HIV negative people die from TB in Nigeria each year, with 39,000 HIV positive people also lost to TB.