BY Joyce Asuquo
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Abdullahi Mashi has said that annually Tuberculosis, TB affects at least 41, 000 Nigerian children, making the the country the first Africa and the 6th among 30 countries.
Mashi who was represented by Dr Evelyn Ngige, Director of Public Health at the Federal Ministry of Health, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the second International TB Conference in Nigeria.
Speaking further at the 2 Day TB Conference, Mashi noted that TB has become a public health burden for Nigeria with additional 41,000 children infected with the deadly disease yearly.
He said, “Approximately, 600,000 thousand people cases become infected with Tuberculosis every year in Nigeria and it is projected that up to 60,000 of this new cases affect children.”
He disclosed that owing to the high burden of the disease in the country, government would integrate TB services into maternal and child health care services for Nigerians as a way of eradicating the disease by 2030.
Also TB is the most common causes of death in person living with HIV/AIDs and children with the emergency of drug resistance TB it is also not acceptable that Nigeria is having the lowest TB case detection rate in the world.
It is currently dictating 25% of TB cases and with over 170,000 Nigerians dying annually from preventable and curable disease, Mashi said.
Chair of Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr Lovett Lawson in his opening remarks said, “The National TB Conference brings key TB stakeholders in TB control and the academia together so as to foster access to research, technologies and innovations in TB control in Nigeria.”
It provides avenue for the generation of new collaborations for home grown T5B research and innovations, promote best practices in TB programming and the designing of evidence based on policies for improved TB control in Nigeria, Lawson explained.
Director Stop TB Partnership, Geveva, Dr Lucica Ditiu, lamented that despite the huge burden of the disease in people are not aware of where to get TB treatment and that there is stigmatization of patients, adding that with joint efforts Nigeria can be TB free by 2030.
The World Health Organisation, WHO , Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghegreyesus, represented by Dr Ayodele Awe said that there are 300,000 TB cases missing in Nigeria with 75% cases in rural communities.
According to him anyone suffering persistent cough for over two weeks and above should go for TB check.
