Nigeria in urgent need of TB agency

In Nigeria, an estimated 156,000 individuals die each year as a result of tuberculosis (TB). As a result, an estimated 18 individuals die of tuberculosis every hour. Every day, 432 people die from tuberculosis. This is truly tragic.

Nigeria is also one of the top 30 high-burden countries for tuberculosis, tuberculosis/HIV, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, according to the findings (MDR-TB).

Nigeria, on the other hand, is reported to be the sixth most burdened country in the world, and the first in Africa.

Nigeria, on the other hand, accounts for 11% of the global gap between TB incidence and registered cases; of the 452,000 new TB cases expected in Nigeria in 2020, only 138,591 were notified to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTBlCP), with only 30% treatment coverage.

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However, in 2020, Nigeria saw a 50% increase in TB notification, from 138,591 to 207,785 cases, for the first time in the country’s history.

Unfortunately, Direct Observation Therapy (DOTs) clinics are only found in 44% of Nigerian health facilities. Only 9% of them have access to TB diagnostic services.

In a surprising turn of events, tuberculosis is the main cause of death among HIV-positive patients and a key contributor to antibiotic resistance.

The problems with tuberculosis in Nigeria are complex and numerous. Experts say the sickness is contagious and thrives among the underprivileged. In fact, it is known as the sickness of the poor, who make up the bulk of the population. It spreads when a person with active tuberculosis in his or her lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else inhales the TB bacteria-laden droplets.

Nigeria’s position is particularly concerning because the TB program has lacked the necessary funding to have the desired impact throughout the years.

As a result, there has been little progress in the fight against the disease.

The disease is rapidly spreading, but case detection is limited due to a lack of necessary funds. As a result, many people who are infected with the disease in areas across the country will go undetected.

Another shocking fact regarding tuberculosis in Nigeria is that it is rapidly growing among primary and secondary school students.

This necessitates immediate government intervention to stop the spread of tuberculosis and prevent it from becoming one of Nigeria’s deadliest epidemics. If the disease is allowed to spread among schoolchildren, it will become uncontrollable.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently issued a warning that tuberculosis (TB) is on the rise among Nigerian children in primary and secondary institutions.

Dr. Temitayo Lagundoye Odusote, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Lead TB and Research Mobilization, raised the issue in Abuja and urged key stakeholders to work together to guarantee that kids in both primary and secondary schools get screened for tuberculosis.

She urged all levels of government, legislators, philanthropic groups, and the business sector to invest in an attempt to eradicate tuberculosis in Nigeria.

“We ask Nigerians to continue to be their brothers’ keepers by referring, or taking by the hand, our neighbors, family members with persistent cough, weight loss, prolonged fever, or children who are just not gaining weight or failing to thrive, to TB services near you.”

“We call on commercial companies and educational institutions to join the fight against tuberculosis.”

“Incidentally, we’ve discovered a tuberculosis outbreak in primary and secondary schools.”

“Even if it means screening all of our pupils for tuberculosis using x-rays and verbal screening, we all have a responsibility to play.” “We urge tuberculosis screening and testing,” Dr. Odusote stated.

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The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBlCP), a minor agency of the Federal Ministry of Health, is currently in charge of fighting this feared disease.

In fact, the unit is fighting the disease on a shoestring budget. Foreign donors provide the majority of funding for the fight against tuberculosis in Nigeria. This is completely inappropriate. We must assume responsibility for our people’s health. The government’s contribution is insignificant.

To put it bluntly, the fight against tuberculosis in Nigeria need financial support. Nigeria now has a 70% financing deficit, as well as a 70% case finding gap in tuberculosis. This also demonstrates that if more resources are available, more missing cases will be discovered.

This is yet another reason why the NTBLCP unit of the Federal Ministry of Health should be upgraded to a full-fledged organization. This will allow it to have its own autonomy, find its own finance, and put an end to TB in Nigeria.

We applaud the members of the House of Representatives’ AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (ATM) Committee, led by Hon. Abubakar Sarki Dahiru, for moving forward with a bill that will make the NTBLCP a fully autonomous organization.

“One of the things that we as legislators are trying to do is that by the grace of God, we have already started with the secretariat and our consultant to make sure that from the National Assembly, the issue of TB is headed by an agency that should be independently autonomous because of funding issues so that a certain allocation will go to that agency and by that I am sure that the issue of TB will be ended by 2030,” Hon. Dahiru said at a recent gathering in Abuja.

Indeed, for Nigeria to make progress in the fight against tuberculosis, the government must make a concerted effort at all levels. In order for the war against the disease to be more ferocious and merciless, an autonomous government agency must be in command of the process.

Apart from government funding, the agency would mobilize its resources and push the fight to every nook and cranny of the country, particularly among the rural poor, where the disease is more prevalent.

Other members of the National Assembly must support this effort and allow it to see the light of day in order for Nigeria to have a TB-related agency.

Nigeria does, in fact, require a TB agency if the illness is to be eradicated by 2030.