In spite the Federal Government efforts to control and eliminate Tuberculosis in the country by 2025, Nigeria still has high percentage of unrecorded cases of TB.
According to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme, the government is only notified of 104,904 TB cases out of estimated 407,000 cases of TB in 2018.
The National Coordinator of the NTLCP, Dr. Adebola Lawanson revealed this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday at a press conference organised in preparation for the National TB Conference.
The National Coordinator said that the huge gap in TB cases finding is high among children ages 0-14 which is about 7 percent.
The Coordinator who was represented by Dr. Ahmad Muhammed Ozi said that the federal government through the Ministry of Health in collaboration with partners has provided quality patient centered prevention, treatment, care and support centers free of charge for TB control.
He said that TB services are provided in over 6500 centers across the country both in private and public health institutions.
While stating the effort of the government he said the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme with W.H.O, USAID and Global Fund and other NGOs are putting a lot of efforts to “end tuberculosis through concerted efforts in developing strategic intervention which would help in finding the TB missing cases in the country and help to put on treatment.”
He revealed that some of the intervention would include house to house screening of the patients which would be carried out in high burdened TB slums, contact tracing of cases, engagement of private medicine vendors and community pharmacies.
Speaking on the National TB Conference, the Board Chairman of Stop TB Partnership in Nigeria, Professor Loveth Lawson said that the conference which would be held in Abuja on 17th and 18th July.
Lawson revealed that the conference would create avenue to bring key stakeholders in TB control and the academia together so as to foster access to research, new technologies and innovations in the control of TB in Nigeria.
Lawson also revealed that the Lagos TB Dinner Forum that would be held on 14th July ahead of the conference is aimed at increasing political commitment for TB and “to increase domestic resource for TB through the use of Corporate Social Responsibility to support TB,” he said.
He lamented that funding from the federal government and international donor for the control of the disease has been inadequate.
He pointed out that little had been done to involve corporate, financial and oil and gas sectors as is done in other countries, to make up the difference in funding.
According to Lawson, “the country need 76 percent more funding for TB control compare to the current funding even if we are to end TB in 2030.”
TB is a major public health problem with 8-10 million new cases diagnosed yearly, which translate to one-third of the world population with about 95 percent cases in developing countries like Nigeria.
