Nigeria Needs Over $300m for Tuberculosis Control by 2030 – Agency
By Prudence Ijah, Abuja – July 10, 2019
The National Coordinator, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme, Dr. Adebola Lawnson, has disclosed that over $300 million is required to wind down funding gap for the control of Tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria by 2030.
Speaking at a briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, the TB National Coordinator, represented by Dr. Ahmed Ozi, said that Nigeria currently enjoys 24 percent funding and most of the funding comes from private individuals.
He disclosed that Lagos and Kano has the highest burden of TB in Nigeria, largely due to high population density of the two states.
In his words, he said “the 2018 Global TB report shows that Nigeria has the highest TB burden in Africa and 6th highest burden in the world, while there are lots of missing TB cases in the country”
Ozi who also raised alarm over rising cases of TB among children under the age of five, attributed it to malnutrition, exposure to untidy environment and over population.
The Chairman, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Prof. Lovett Lawson, who spoke on the forthcoming National TB conference with the theme “Building Stronger Partnership to end TB in Nigeria” expressed worry that in spite of several efforts, the high burden of TB in the country has not dropped as anticipated.
He said that 8 to10 million new cases are diagnosed annually which translates to 1/3 of world population with about 95 percent cases in developing countries.
He said that each TB patient is capable of infecting 10-15 other persons annually and other records have confirmed that 1.6 million TB patients die annually which is compounded by fast spread of HIV/AIDS and poor socioeconomic status
Lawson however disclosed that, being an airborne disease, approach to the fight against TB has been changed in order to achieve the desired result.
He said the aim of forthcoming TB conference is to bring key stakeholders in TB control to foster access to research, new technologies and innovations in the control of TB in Nigeria.
He said the conference will also stimulate the generation of new collaboration for home grown TB research and innovations, and also create awareness and promote best practices in TB programming in Nigeria.
The chairman, planning committee for the 2019 national TB Conference, Dr. Bethrand Odume raised concern over the increase in multi-drug resistance (MDR) tuberculosis, says MDR TB is only curable via strict adherence to medication and treatment plan.
