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Tag: Tuberculosis

  • BNSG to Collaborate with Development Partners to Stamp out Tuberculosis

    BNSG to Collaborate with Development Partners to Stamp out Tuberculosis

    By Isaac Kertyo, Makurdi

    Benue State Government is to collaborate with Development Partners to step up treatment of tuberculosis in the state as the World marks Tuberculosis day.

    Speaking during the launch of this year’s day in Makurdi the state capital, the First Lady of Benue State, Dr Eunice Ortom and Champion of TB implored relevant partners to work together to Stamp out the disease in the state.

    Mrs Ortom who was represented at the event by the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Health and Human services, Mrs Comfort Abaa assured that she would continue to support TB campaigns.

    The First Lady enjoined the people of the state to come out for testing and treatment of the disease, explaining that efforts are being stepped up to wipe out the pandemic.

    Also speaking, the Program Manager, Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program, Dr Ishember Igbabo warned against releasing spectrum into the air to contain the spread of the disease. The theme for this year’s Tuberculosis day is ” Invest to Save Lives”.

  • Nigeria got only 31% TB funding in 2020

    Nigeria got only 31% TB funding in 2020

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

    Nigeria will continue to lag behind in Tuberculosis control activities as only 31% of TB funding got into the coffers of the country.
    This position was disclosed by the Acting Board Chairman of Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr. Queen Ogbuji who said that out of the $373 million needed for Tuberculosis(TB) control in 2021 only 31% was available to all the implementers of Tuberculosis control activities in Nigeria totalling (7% domestic and 24% donor funds), with 69% funding gap.

    According to Ogbuji, less than half of the Global US$15 billion annual funding for TB which world leaders promised promised at the United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM on TB in 2018), has been delivered.
    The Stop TB Nigeria head said that TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers that kills about 4,100 people daily and nearly 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.

    She said, “TB is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 66 million lives since the year 2000.”

    “The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight to end TB. For the first time in over a decade, TB deaths increased in 2020.”

    She noted that the 2022 World TB Day is an opportunity to focus on the people affected by this disease and to call for accelerated action to end TB suffering and deaths, moreso in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    “The theme for 2022 World TB Day is “Invest to End TB. Save Lives”. And the slogan for Nigeria is “Give More, Do more, End TB Now!” The theme – ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives’ conveys the urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against TB and achieve the commitments to end TB made by global leaders”.

    “This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with the drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. More investment to TB will save millions more lives, and accelerate the end of the TB epidemic.”

    “The Stop TB Partnership and all partners are calling on all those involved in the fight against TB to unite under this overarching theme and sound the alarm that the low levels of funding for the TB response year after year cannot continue nor be accepted anymore”.

    We therefore call on the government at the federal, state and local government levels as well as corporate sector and philanthropists to invest in TB and prevent people from dying from a preventable and curable disease, she said.

    According to the Executive Director of KNCV TB Foundation, in Nigeria Dr Odume Bethrand, the World TB Day is a day set aside to educate the public about the socio-economic impact of TB .
    Bethrand disclosed that the KNCV TB Foundation Nigeria, along with funding Partner the USAID, the STOP TB Partnership Nigeria and the Government will use the opportunity to share successes, create awareness and most importantly highlight the key challenges that hinder the progress toward meeting set targets for TB control in Nigeria.

    He said, ” Nigeria still accounts for 4.6% of the global estimated TB cases, with the highest TB burden in Africa, the 6″ globally and 1 of 10 countries that accounts for 70% of the global gap between the estimated global incidence of multidrug resistant TB each year and the number enrolled on treatment.”

    “About 75% of TB patients in Nigeria and their households are facing catastrophic costs. Though Nigeria is 1 of 4 countries that improved case notification against the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can do so much more to close the about 70% gap in TB notification.”

    He enjoined that “To end TB in Nigeria we must address the funding gap; invest more in human and material resources needed to control the TB epidemic. “

  • Sokoto State Won 2021 Trophy As Best Performing In The Control Of Tuberculosis, Leprosy

    Sokoto State Won 2021 Trophy As Best Performing In The Control Of Tuberculosis, Leprosy

    By Muhammad Ibrahim, Sokoto

    Sokoto State has won the 2021 trophy as the best performing in the control of Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli ulcer in Nigeria.

    The trophy was handed over to the Commissioner for Health Dr Ali Mohammad Inname by the State Programme Manager for the control of Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme Dr Bello Umar Tambuwal at a brief ceremony held at E O U Centre, in Specialist Hospital, Sokoto.

    Meanwhile, Sokoto state government has introduced ways to search for suspected Tuberculosis cases in the state.

    The Programme Manager Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Dr. bello Umar Tambuwal announced this while addressing newsmen shortly after receiving the award obtained to that effect.

    He said this include house to house search for all suspected TB cases.

  • Underfunding major threat to TB control in Nigeria- WHO

    Underfunding major threat to TB control in Nigeria- WHO

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju


    As Nigeria marks the 2021 World Tuberculosis, TB, Day, the World Health Organization, WHO, has noted underfunding as a major threat to eradicating the disease from the country.
    In a message delivered at a press conference yesterday in Abuja to commemorate the WTBD , the WHO Country Representative to Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo made this known.

    Mulombo said, “TB control budget in Nigeria continue to be drastically underfunded. About 70% of the TB budget in 2020 were underfunded, this is a major threat to the country efforts in achieving the set targets.”

    According to Mulombo, too many people and their household are pushed into poverty when they contract TB due to lost income, transport costs and other expenses, adding that 70% of the TB patients in Nigeria and their families are affected by catastrophic cost due to TB.

    He noted that another troubling factor for TB control in Nigeria is low detection, adding that un- detected TB cases can further constitute poor reservoir that can fuel ongoing transmission of TB in the community as one undetected infectious TB case is able to infect between 12 to 15 people every year.

    The WHO Nigeria Country Representative said that two years after Nigeria at a UN High Level Meeting on TB in 2018 made a commitment to diagnose and treat over 1.1 million TB cases and place about 2.2 million clients on TB preventive Therapy (TPT) from 2018 to 2022 the country is far away from achieving these targets.

    WHO called for collective action across all sectors to address the challenges and accelerate progress towards ending TB in Nigeria by 2030.

    Determinants of health such as poverty, under nutrition, tobacco smoking, and co-morbidities such as HIV continue to drive the TB epidemic, WHO noted.
    The global health agency said it has developed the multisectoral accountability framework to support Nigeria and all countries to update their TB policies and to implement WHO guidelines.

    Mulombo said, “Tuberculosis is curable and treatable; I implore anyone coughing for two weeks or more to go for TB test in the nearest health facility. “
    Daybreak reports that the theme for the 2021 World TB Day is ” The Clock is Ticking”.

  • World TB day: NTS says Tuberculosis killing 162,000 Nigerians yearly

    World TB day: NTS says Tuberculosis killing 162,000 Nigerians yearly

    The Nigerian Thoracic Society (NTS) has revealed that over 162,000 people die of tuberculosis in the country annually.

    This was disclosed to newsmen in a statement to mark this year world TB day yesterday in Uyo, by the President of the Society Professor Prince Ele

    Ele who explained that close to 430,000 people also fall ill with the disease in the country said Tuberculosis remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer and Global efforts to combat the disease has saved millions of lives in Nigeria and globally since the year 2000.

    According to him, “the World TB Day is celebrated March 24 to raise awareness about the health, social and economic consequence of the disease and to step up efforts to end TB epidemic.

    “The theme of World TB Day 2021, “The Clock is ticking” is quite apt considering the current global health and economic challenges’’.

    He lamented that despite strong commitments made by world leaders all efforts to end the disease has been relegated to the background as countries grapple with the covid-19 pandemic.

    This he noted has put the “end TB” progress at risk and if this trend continues global targets to control TB will be missed’

    He urged Government at all levels in the country and other world leaders to ensure that TB gets necessary attention as the number one infectious killer disease.

    “We in the Nigerian Thoracic Society are not oblivious of the current challenges our health authorities are contending with due to covid-19.

    “We implore the health authorities to do the needful in the adequate and equitable coverage of the covid-19 vaccination program and want to remind them that TB is still the number one infectious killer disease made worse by the advent and rise in the incidence and prevalence of MDRTB across the world and as such it should continue to receive all the needed attention and the top priority it deserves.

    “While we encourage full participation of our members in all local awareness campaigns we emphasize the need to constantly observe all COVID-19 preventive protocols.

    “This is a message and a plea to the Nigerian government and world leaders to ensure that TB gets the necessary attention as the number one infectious killer disease.” The statement said.

  • Buhari calls for urgent international response on TB cases

    Buhari calls for urgent international response on TB cases

    President Muhammadu Buhari has called on the international community to act in unison with rededicated efforts, using latest available technology and tools, to address the Tuberculosis (TB) epidemic.

    Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of deaths worldwide.

    In his goodwill message to the roundtable conference of the Board of the “Global Stop TB Partnership”, the Nigerian leader expressed concern that efforts at ending a preventable and curable disease like TB were now complicated because of COVID-19.

    Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, quoted Buhari to have told the roundtable session of Honorable Ministers of Health, during the 33rd Board Meeting of the Global Stop TB Partnership, that:

    ‘‘As I mentioned during the UN High Level Meeting in 2018, it is now even more urgent that the global community, especially the African region, act in unison with rededicated efforts, using the latest available technology and tools to address the TB epidemic.

    ‘‘Nigeria still ranks amongst those countries bearing the brunt of an increasing burden of TB with a growing number of “missing” TB cases.

    ‘‘The reversal of Nigeria’s difficult health indices, remains a top priority of this administration, including the gap in TB case detection, fueled partly by the dearth of acceptable, accessible, affordable and patient centered basic health facilities.’’

    According to the Nigerian leader, his government has conceptualized and is currently implementing the Primary Health Care (PHC) revitalization programme, to empower more PHC centres to provide quality basic healthcare in the treatment of TB, HIV, malaria and other health challenges, delivered in a patient-centered way.

    Buhari added that the Nigerian Government was also implementing the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, prescribed by the National Health Act, to bridge the gap in health care financing, with funds released to support provision of a basic minimum package of health services.

    “We are also improving funding of health services through voluntary contributory schemes that reduce out of pocket spending and the risk of catastrophic costs to patients and their families including those with TB.”

    While warning on the consequences of the increasing epidemic, the president said:

    ‘‘If we fail in the fight to reverse the current trend in TB prevalence, TB will continue to fight us and lead to avoidable loss of lives, especially among the economically productive age group, and amongst our most vulnerable groups, especially women.

    ‘‘It is imperative that we not only commit to ending the TB epidemic as one of the milestones enshrined in the SDGs, but also to institute an accountability element to ensure that our commitment translates to achievement of desired results.’’

    Buhari, who acknowledged that the work of the Stop TB Partnership all over the world had been so remarkable, despite numerous challenges, pledged his commitment to providing needed political leadership and support to end TB in Nigeria and globally.

  • Stakeholders express worry over 302,467 TB missing cases in Nigeria

    Stakeholders express worry over 302,467 TB missing cases in Nigeria

    • Says, one case of untreated TB can  affect over 15  people in one year

    Stakeholders in the nation’s health sector have expressed worry over the 302,467 cases of missing  tuberculosis in Nigeria.

    The stakeholders while stressing the need for immediate action said that one untreated case of TB  can infect more than 15  people within one year.

    Speaking  during a virtual TB media roundtable organised by the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Head of the Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilisation (ACSM) unit of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program, Mrs. Utohowo Uko, said, there was need to create more awareness on TB among the general populace and health workers.

    Quoting the 2019 Global Report, Mrs Uko described as unfortunate  that  out of the  409,000 TB cases, 302,467 are expected to be identified.

    She said, “TB is one of the top ten causes of deaths worldwide, yet, the knowledge about TB is very low. As a programme, in 2019 we were only able to identify 26 percent of the estimated TB cases in Nigeria, and we were able to put them on treatment.

    “What that means is that we still have well over 74 percent of the estimated cases that are still in the community. And we know that one case of untreated TB can actually affect 15 more people within one year”.

    She further revealed that Tuberculosis killing more Nigerians daily than COVID-19.

    According to her, the 26 percent notification that was made in  2018, that is, the global report of 2019 showed that Nigeria  was  able to identify, isolate, and place on treatment  106,533 patients. 

    “We all know that TB patients often go to multiple places to seek help. But in most cases, they end up not getting the correct diagnosis or being referred to the appropriate quarters where they can have their cases being handled appropriately.

    “People sometimes prefer to take traditional herbs rather than seeking the proper treatment early at the right facility. This most of the time results in drug resistant TB, which is more difficult to handle”, she added.

    While stressing the need to raise more awareness, she added that stigmatization and discrimination has actually placed down on the success of the programme in the country. 

    She added that  some health workers are also reluctant to  handle samples for TB testing because of the similarities in the symptoms of TB and COVID-19.

    “Some of our GeneXpert machines being used in states for COVID-19 has reduced the number of TB samples that can actually be tested in those states”.

    Earlier, Chairman of the Board of Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr. Ayodele Awe, “Nigeria has the highest tuberculosis burden in Africa and we are about 4th or 5th in the whole world after India, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

    He said that  TB, public information and general health worker information is still very low adding that a survey they did  some years back revealed that only 27percent of health workers  know the cause of TB. 

    The Head of Risk Control of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Yahaya Disu, in his remarks said, “Health providers must take advantage of the attention on health at this period by policy makers to strengthen the system.