About 15,000 persons currently live with tuberculosis in Lagos State, the government has said.
To curb the disease’ spread, the government, through the Office of the First Lady, and Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, has inaugurated the 10 female local government chairmen and wives of the other 47 councils as ambassadors to fight the menace at the grassroots.
The wife of the governor, Mrs. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, admonished the ambassadors that their role as TB ambassadors is to create awareness about the disease through traditional and social media platforms, especially radio and television.
They are also to organise activities during World TB Day to create more awareness, mobilise stakeholders in their domain, as well as take the campaign to schools, markets, churches, and mosques, among other places.
She added: “We need to act faster because the TB cases are rising very high. The ambassadors have 48 hours to set up awareness programmes. Use your mouth and voice to talk to people in your local governments. It’s a collective effort.”
Mrs Sanwo-Olu noted that though highly infectious, tuberculosis is preventable and curable if detected early.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said that in 2023, over 18,000 Lagosians were diagnosed with tuberculosis. But, regrettably, the number increased to 32,000 in 2024.
Of the 32,000, over 15,000 were diagnosed and treated, while the others are currently roaming about, yet to be treated, and their whereabouts unknown.
“If the 15,000 carriers are not treated, each of them has the capacity to infect 15 people which could increase the number of infected Lagosians to 300,000 by 2025.
“For years, we have been identifying patients and treating them, but the council chairmen need to look for these 15,000 carriers of the disease,” Abayomi said.
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The commissioner also identified events such as weddings, birthdays, and burials as the easiest and commonest avenues of contracting the disease, and so warned partygoers to be more vigilant.
Deputy Director and Program Manager of the End TB Partnership, Olusola Sokoya, in his lecture titled ‘Ending Tuberculosis in Lagos: A Necessity to Ending TB Globally’, said 2.9 million cases of tuberculosis are reported globally with Nigeria contributing 6 percent and the highest in Africa.
He identified risk factors to include dirty environments, over-population, and poverty.
Citing a 2023 report, Sokoya said Alimosho had the highest number of carriers, with 5,579 and 2,028 treated, followed by Mushin (4,523).
The governor’s wife also inaugurated the Lagos TB Steering Committee and members of the STOP TB Partnership, Lagos.