The Kaduna State commissioner for health, Dr. Paul Dogo, has said that a total of 4,023 new cases of tuberculosis were recorded across the state in 2018,
The commissioner who stated this at a news conference held in Kaduna on Tuesday to mark the World Tuberculosis Day however said 87 per cent of the new cases were treatment successfully.
He attributed the high incidence of new tuberculosis infections to low level awareness of its causes and insufficient GeneXpert machines used for detecting the disease in the state.
Dogo said the state would scale up access to prevention and treatment, build accountability and ensure sufficient and sustainable financing for the treatment of and research into the ailment.
“We hope to promote an end to the stigma and discrimination, and promote an equitable rights-based and people-centered tuberculosis response,” he said.
The commissioner said the state would sustain its house-to-house search for new active cases of tuberculosis to raise the detection rate in the state.
According to him, the state government will increase the number of GeneXpert machines from 11 to 23 and strengthen its tuberculosis surveillance department to track all cases.
He added that the government would make it mandatory for all private health care providers to report tuberculosis cases and improve the participation of the media in raising awareness on tuberculosis and leprosy.
“Currently, there are 444 health centres carrying out the TB control and treatment activities in the state and we urge the residents to visit any of the health centres,” he said.
The commissioner explained that testing and treatment of tuberculosis is free and urged those having running cough for two weeks to go for test in any of the health centres.
In his comments, the director of public health, Dr. Ado Zakari urged the state government to scale up its awareness programmes as many residents are not aware that the disease is curable.
