By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
Nigeria’s stakeholders working to end tuberculosis in the country have identified investment and awareness creation as major elements in curbing TB menace in the country.
The stakeholders identified the elements yesterday in Abuja, during a Pre-World Tuberculosis Day, press briefing.
The theme for this year’s World TB Day is “Invest to end TB. Save Lives”.
Specifically, the National Coordinator, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), Ministry of Health, Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike, said the federal government is identifying actual cases of TB and placing them on treatment.
He called on relevant partners and well meaning Nigerians to invest more so as to find the missing TB cases across the country.
He said all hands must be on deck for the country to bid farewell to TB disease.
He expressed worry that only 25% of Nigerians have information about TB, saying that the information needs to get yo the grassroots.
“We are interested in finding the missing cases at the grassroots. Information must be made available to people in all the local government areas in the country.”
Also speaking, Acting Board Chairman of Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr. Queen Ogbuji, expressed worry that TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killer disease.
She said each day, about 4,100 people lose their lives and nearly 30,000 fall ill.
The Board chair said, “TB is the leading cause of death of people living with HIV and a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance. Global efforts to combat TB saved an estimated 66 million lives since the year 2000. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight.
“For the first time in over a decade, TB deaths increased in 2020. This World TB Day is an opportunity to focus on the people affected by this disease and to call for accelerated action to end the sufferings and deaths, especially in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.’’
On his part, Exective Director, KNCV TB Foundation, Nigeria, Dr. Bethrand Odume, harped on the need for more funding to address TB challenges in the country.
He said poor funding was the major reason for the snail movement in addressing the TB menace in Nigeria.
Odume, called on governments at all levels to step up investment to curb TB.
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