•Lagos State Ranks First Among States With Highest
Burden
Chioma Umeha
No fewer than 18 Nigerians die of tuberculosis,
TB, every hour totalling 432 deaths daily, according to the World Health
Organisation (WHO) which ranks Nigeria as having the second highest incidence
rate in Africa and seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries in the world.
In effect, no less than three Nigerians die every
second from Tuberculosis, a disease that is preventable and curable, stated the
global health body.
Every hour, 47 Nigerians develop active TB, seven
of who are children, even as Nigeria is ranked among the 14 high burden
countries for TB, TB/HIV and Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB), the WHO further
said.
Revealing these and other statistics on Monday in
Lagos, Dr Linda Ozor, the Acting Coordinator, Non Communicable Diseases
Cluster, WHO, said Nigeria is also among the 10 countries that accounted for 64
per cent of the global gap in ‘missing TB cases.’
Citing the 2017 Global TB Report, Ozor, who spoke
on behalf of Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, the WHO Country Rep, at the first
National Summit on Public Private Mix (PPM) for TB Control, said it was
essential to engage the private corporate organisations and private health
institutions to commit to take TB control as one of their corporate social
responsibilities.
She said, “More worrisome is the fact that every
hour, 18 Nigerians die of TB, a disease that is preventable and curable. This
is not simply statistics, behind these figures they are humans.
“The disease in Nigeria is further fuelled by the
large number of undetected TB cases (missing cases), which serve as pool of
reservoir for the continuous transmission of the disease. Each undetected TB
case has potential of infecting 10-15 persons in a year.”
Noting that only 14 per cent of private
institutions are collaborating with the National TB Control programme, while
only one in five (19 per cent) TB cases are being managed at private health
facilities, Ozor called for more involvement of the private sector in TB
control programme.
The WHO official noted Nigeria increased its TB
detection rate from 17 per cent to 24 per cent (41 per cent increase) and
declared 2017 year for accelerated TB case finding, but pointed out that
outstanding challenges were being addressed collectively by stakeholders to get
a breakthrough in the fight to end TB.
“Among the challenges are how to find the
remaining 300,000 cases which are still missed by the health sector. Of the
total 400,000 cases, only 100,000 were reported. In Lagos State, of the three
expected cases, two are missed.”
Among other challenges she stressed on were
expanding quality TB diagnostic coverage nationwide, both optimisation of the
existing gene Xpert diagnostic machine (390 and increasing awareness of the
general public.
Dr. Jide Idris, the Lagos State Commissioner for
Health, confirmed that Lagos State has the highest estimated burden of TB cases
in the country.
Dr Idris said the development is by virtue of the
State’s large poplulation, population density and metropolitan nature of Lagos.
“Most of challenges of TB control have to do with
funding and these can be resolved. It is in this light the Summit has become so
important and timely.”
The Lagos state Ministry of Health boss further
said that at the moment there are 926 TB treatment centres covering all 57
LGA/LCDAs, 108 TB microscopy and 30 GeneXpert sites with at least one machine
in each of the 20 LGAs.
The two-day national summit on Public-Private
Partnership for Tuberculosis (TB) Control in Nigeria focused on how to
effectively engage the private sector in efforts to end the menace of Tuberculosis.
Earlier in their comments, Dr. Ayodele Awe,
National Professional Officer (TB), World Health Organisation (WHO) and Mayowa
Joel, Executive Secretary, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria said the goal was to
provide public and private partnership in TB control. The summit was organised
by WHO with the collaboration of the Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State
Ministry of Health, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria and other stakeholders.
It provided a platform for governments, private
sector, corporate organisations and private health provider umbrella bodies to
discuss as well as agree on strategies for engagement in TB control in Lagos
state.
The stakeholders also discussed way forward as
well as developed a road map for private sector engagement in tuberculosis
control with a view to finding the missing TB cases.