Stakeholders to OPS: Stop TB in Nigeria

Stakeholders have impressed on the organised private sector the need to mobilise resources to end the scourge of tuberculosis in the country.

Nigeria currently occupies 6th position in the world and first in Africa in terms of TB prevalence.

A cross-section of stakeholders who spoke recently at Lagos TB Dinner Forum organised by Lagos state government Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, they said for every $1 investing in ending the scourge of Tuberculosis, $43 is gained in return.

Speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary Lagos state Ministry of Health, Dr Titilayo Gonclaves, observed that the current level of funding by governments and international donors for the control of the deadly disease is inadequate if Nigeria should meet 2030 target by the World Health Organisation, (WHO) to end Tuberculosis.

Gonclaves who represented Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, noted that the menace of TB in Nigeria is a time bomb that may explode if not tactically reduce.

While commending on the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria for their commitment to the goal of ending TB and specifically for its unrelenting involvement in the control and management of TB in Nigeria, the Permanent Secretary advocated for urgent need for strategic partnership with private sectors to end the scourge of TB in the country.

She revealed that Lagos State is doing everything possible to stem the tide of deadly and infectious disease.

Gonclaves admitted that current position of Lagos state as the highest in the number of TB patients in Nigeria, calls for a need for drastic and urgent action to check the spread to avoid turning 22 million populations residing in Lagos to a fertile ground for the pandemic.

According to her, “Lagos state government has intensified her efforts on case finding in public facilities, intensifying case findings in primary facilities, active case finding among TB contacts, Gene Xpert optimisation and enhancing community awareness on TB.”

Gonclaves explained that the number of TB treatment centres in Lagos State in the last 16 years, has increased from six to 1,008.

In his own, Chairman of the Nigerian Stop TB Partnership, Prof. Lovett Lawson, called for increased funding which needed for awareness programmes, well-equipped DOTs centres with GeneXperts, in each local government area, improved socioeconomic standards and availability of TB drugs.

He tasked corporate sector- financial, manufacturing, telecommunications, oil and gas companies, to play a critical role through their Corporate Social Responsibility to support efforts to end needless deaths from a curable disease affecting the country.

Prof. Lawson noted that TB is the leading infectious disease that cause death in adults globally estimated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that no fewer than 1.6 billion people, about a third of the world’s population, are infected with the deadly disease.

Stop TB in Nigeria was launched in 2009 by the then Minister of Health, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin.