The House of Representatives has asked the federal government to as a matter of urgency set up a private sector-driven Trust Fund that will mobilize funds for the TB response in Nigeria.
The House also asked the federal government to ensure that TB treatment services and basic TB diagnosis equipment are made available in all the 774 Local Government Areas of the Country.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Amobi G Ogah, Abubakar Baba Zango, Billy Osawaru, Ibe Okwara, Princess Chinwe Onuoha, Victor Abang, and Midalla Bala Usman, the House said the Federal Ministry of Health, through the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) Nigeria should advocate for the immediate increase of Global Disease Split to 35% in favour of TB.
It also wants the government to increase local funding for TB to ensure Nigeria abides by all commitments towards ending TB by 2030 while asking the House Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Malaria Control to present a bill that will address the abuse of rights of those infected with TB.
Presenting the motion on behalf of the other sponsors, Ogah described Tuberculosis (TB) as a disease caused by a bacterial infection (Mycobacterium Tuberculosis) that affects the lungs.
He said even though TB is curable and preventable, it kills more people than HIV and Malaria combined globally and is the leading cause of death in Nigeria. It is associated with HIV/AIDS, undernutrition, non-communicable diseases as well as stigma, discrimination, and other human rights abuses.
According to him, Nigeria currently ranks first in Africa and sixth in the world accounting for about 4.6% of the global TB burden, adding that according to World Health Organization (WHO), about 11 million people get infected with TB and 1.8 million die each year from the disease, making it the world’s top infectious disease killer.
He stressed that significant progress has been made in the fight against TB globally resulting in the reduction of deaths by 38% and new cases by 23% which is driven by an increase in TB case detection rates with over 1 million more people being diagnosed in 2022 than 2017 according to WHO Global TB Report, 2023.
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He said major gaps still exist as almost a third of people with TB still miss out on diagnosis each year and just one-third of people with TB being tested, in addition to vulnerable and marginalized populations, with more than half of children under the age of 5 and three-quarters of children with multidrug-resistance TB never being diagnosed and reported to National TB Programs.
He expressed concern that funding for TB is grossly inadequate both locally and globally and that an increase in the number of people being diagnosed and treated requires an increase in the TB budget, especially for vital commodities.
He said nearly 70% of countries supported by the Global Fund are projected to face deficits in their budgets next year, with ten countries alone facing a combined USD$600m shortfall for 2025.
He said the Global Disease Split (GDS) for Global Fund investment for country grants to each of HIV, Malaria, and Tuberculosis has remained largely unchanged over the last decade, with TB receiving approximately 18% of available funding compared with 50% for HIV and 32% for Malaria.
He disclosed that on September 26, 2018, heads of state and governments from around the world including Nigeria met in New York at the United Nations high-level meeting on TB and agreed on a set of commitments to end TB by 2030 and on September 22, 2023, the United Nations member states including Nigeria came together for a second united nations high-level meeting on tb to review progress and agree on new sets of commitments to end TB by 2030.