The United States Centre for Disease Control (US-CDC) said that no fewer than 18 people die of tuberculosis every hour in Nigeria.
It also said Nigeria ranks first in Africa and the sixth globally with nine per cent rate, after India and Indonesia, which are at 26 and 11 per cent rate, respectively.
US-CDC representative in Nigeria, Dr. Bertrand Odume who gave the figures in Abuja yesterday at the pre-World TB Day press briefing with the theme ‘It’s time!’ and slogan ‘To end TB in Nigeria (keep the promise! Find TB! Treat TB)’ said Nigeria would need N247 billion to stem the tide of tuberculosis spread.
He said the amount will take care of Multi Drug Resistant- TB and diagnosis, among others.
Odume said the estimated cost was expected to be raised by the government, communities, private sector, international donors and individuals.
He said more funding is needed in the health sector but stated that most of the funding for the disease comes from foreign donors.
“To control TB in Nigeria, the sum of N147 billion has been estimated. N35 billon of that amount which is about 24 per cent has been met. To be very sincere, over time, there has been an increase in funding within the national TB programme and government has actually come up to rise to its responsibilities but the gap of 75 per cent still remains.
“We are looking at how to come about filling this gap. For this approach, the government must be there. One missing gap in Nigeria is that the private sector is not really coming up and that is where the Stop TB partnership in Nigeria comes in,” he said
Also speaking, the national coordinator, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), Dr. Lovett Lawanson, said the increasing pool of drug-resistant TB in the country had been a major threat to the control of the disease.
Lawanson, who was represented by NTBLCP’s senior programme officer, Mr. Emperor Ubochioma, said the proportion of missing TB cases among children is more worrisome, as the country is only able to uncover seven per cent of the estimated childhood TB cases in 2017.
“This implies that a large number of TB cases are still undetected and missing, thereby constituting a pool for continuous transmission of the disease in the community. The missing TB cases in Nigeria can be found among men, women and children with different forms of TB, including drug resistant TB. The proportion of missing TB cases among children is more worrisome, as the country is only able to notify seven per cent,” he added.
