The wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has called for a united action to end tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria and contribute to the global fight to eradicate the disease.
She lamented that about 10.8 million people developed TB in 2023, with 1.6 million people losing their lives, adding that 12 per cent of the global burden affected the most vulnerable, including children and young adolescents.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian private sector has indicated its willingness to contribute about $25 million towards the TB response. Speaking at the opening of the 2024 National TB Conference, with the theme, ‘Public-Private Partnership and Integrated Service Delivery: Panacea to end TB in Nigeria”, Tinubu stated that despite the progress that had been made in the fight against the disease, the global burden of TB remained alarming, particularly in low and middle-income countries, like Nigeria.
She noted that tuberculosis remained a leading cause of death in Nigeria, stressing that the country ranked the sixth highest burden country across the world and first in Africa.
Tinubu, who is the Global and National Stop TB champion, noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 also revealed that Nigeria recorded approximately 467,000 TB cases in 2023.
In his contribution, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, said the Federal Government was resolute in its commitment to eliminate TB in Nigeria.
He noted that Nigeria was making progress in the TB response, but the spate of progress was not enough, hence the need to intensify efforts to curb the menace of tuberculosis
Pate highlighted the need to mobilise and sustain domestic resources necessary for TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. He observed that the private sector could contribute to the fight to identify, diagnose and treat all those affected by tuberculosis and also help to expand their health insurance.
Pate, therefore, called on all private sector actors to complement the efforts being made by the government to ensure testing and treatment of the population.
In her remarks, the Acting Board Chair of Stop TB Partnership, Dr Queen Ogbuji-Ladipo, said despite achieving a 24 per cent decline in TB incidence rates between 2015 and 2023, Nigeria remained among the 30 high-burden countries accounting for 87 per cent of the world’s TB cases, including HIV-associated TB and drug-resistant tuberculosis.
She stated that the conference would serve as a platform to share innovative ideas, exchange knowledge and discuss effective strategies for addressing the barriers to TB care, particularly among marginalised and vulnerable populations.
According to the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, Nigeria bears a significant portion of this burden of TB and is ranked sixth among the top 10 countries with the highest TB burden worldwide
