By Hassan Zaggi
Concerned by the increasing cases of Tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria, stakeholders have advocated for the establishment of an agency dedicated specifically to fight the diseases.
They stakeholders including parliamentarians, government officials, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), TB survivors, people living with HIV, medical experts, media, the academia and other sectors, made the call at a three meeting to draft a legislative framework that will guide and accelerate TB response in Nigeria, in Abuja.
TB according to experts is an infectious disease and mostly thrives among the poor. It spreads when a person with active TB disease in his/her lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else inhales the expelled droplets, which contain TB bacteria.
Findings revealed that Nigeria currently accounts for 4.6% global TB estimates, occupies the 6th position in the global ranking of TB and the first in Africa.
TB incidences in Nigeria currently stands 219 per 100,000 population while treatment success rate is 89 per cent as at 2021.
In 2021, 207,785 cases were notified which is a remarkable improvement from the 2020 which stood at 138,591.
This means that almost additional 70,000 cases were notified in 2021 compared to 2020 while TB mortality rate currently stands at 112000 annually (53/100000 population)
With the current statistics, approximately 13 people die of TB every hour which means 311 people die of TB every day in Nigeria and 112000 annually.
This is a remarkable improvement to the previous data where 18 people were said to die every hour, 432 people die of TB every day and 156,000 people die every year.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with our correspondent, the Executive Secretary, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Muyiwa Joel, said that the call for the establishment of TB Agency in Nigeria is long overdue, because, according to him, TB kills more than most diseases in Nigeria, hence, the need to have an agency that will handle the response with vigor.
“TB is a communicable disease like HIV and Malaria and for TB it kills people more than any other disease.
“In fact, in Nigeria, TB kills 13 people every hour and if you look at the structure of the government response supporting to end TB in Nigeria, you will see that it is nothing compared to what HIV and malaria have.
“For example, HIV has a national control agency and also has National AIDS STI control programme (NASCAP). Malaria equally has the National Malaria Elimination Programme and also has the National End Malaria Council. But for TB, we only have the National TB, Leprory and Burunli Control Programme which is a unit in the Federal Ministry of Health.
“We don’t have any structure either an agency or a Council that can interface with the highest political office in Nigeria. The other two have, and so that has made TB to be neglected in a lot of ways limiting the response to end TB in Nigeria.”
Having an agency for TB, Mr. Joel stressed, “will help us to better manage the current resources we have. With an agency, there is better coordination both at the federal and state levels and I believe with the increased political awareness about TB, and of course political support, we believe that the government through the domestic resources can allocate money to TB both at the federal and state level.
“The private sector will also be more open to give more money to end TB in Nigeria, then of course philanthropists and even donors will be more ready to give money knowing that there is an independent body like an agency that can better manage the resources and report accordingly.”
He, therefore, advised the Federal government to take necessary action to ensure the TB agency comes to live.
Speaking on how the agency will be funded if established, a Consultant, Dr. David Olayemi, said the funding will come from other sources with little support from the government.
“We did everything to ensure we don’t look at the direction of the government in terms of funding. That is what we have tried to do.
“If the agency is in the hands of people that have the type of passion that we have here, then it will work, but if we don’t have people who have the passion, then, it will not work.
“We can only hope that government will appoint people with the right passion. If that happens, then we can be sure that the agency is going to work.”
Dr. Olayemi, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to create the TB agency once the proposed Bill is signed into law.
“I call on the President to create the agency once the law is signed and ensure that the right people are put in the positions of authority and that they are monitored very effectively.”
Responding to questions on the dangers of not giving adequate attention to the funding and TB response in Nigeria, the National Coordinator of African Coalition of TB in Nigeria, Ibrahim Umaru, warned that all Nigerians regardless of their social status or class are at risk of having TB.
“TB is a airborne disease. As long as you breath and someone with TB is around you coughing, you are at risk. That is why it is very important for the government and in fact, everybody to take TB seriously.
“Statistics are there to show that TB has killed many people than any other disease known for now. “Unfortunately, a lot of TB deaths are being attributed to other diseases. Take for example, for someone living with HIV, the biggest threat to that person’s live is TB because TB is the biggest opportunistic infection that will bring the person down and majority of HIV people are dying, the do so because of the TB and when taking data, they attribute such deaths to AIDS.
“That is why TB is something we should not ignore, undermine and should fight it with every resources within our reach.”
