Reps pledge purchasing 360 tuberculosis-testing kits

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Malaria, Rep. Abubakar Dajiru, has pledged that each member of the House will purchase a tuberculosis-testing machine for their constituency.

The pledge was informed by their determination to ensure that every Nigerian has access to universal health coverage.

Addressing a pre –world TB Day 2020 conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Rep. Dahiru said that the House members were passionate about putting an end to the menace of tuberculosis in Nigeria, adding that the testing kits were part of their contribution to the fight against the disease.

He assured that in the coming weeks, he would sponsor a debate on tuberculosis on the floor of the House, adding that “in the coming weeks, you will see debate on tuberculosis because of the serious attachment we have for the health sector. And after this debate, I assure you that each member will buy the tuberculosis testing kits.”

Speaking on the poor budget release to the health sector, Rep. Dahiru blamed the budget office for not releasing enough money to the health sector to tackle various challenges.

He however, assured that the House is working assiduously to ensure adequate release of funds to the health sector.

Earlier, the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation Country Director and Chairman, Planning Committee, World Tuberculosis Day 2020, Dr. Berthrand Odume, lamented that despite the significant progress over the last decades, tuberculosis has remained the world’s deadliest infectious killer disease.

Odume said that Nigeria is one of the countries with the high burden of the disease globally, stressing that tuberculosis kills 18 Nigerians every hour. 

“According to the 2018 Global TB report, Nigeria is among the 30 high burden countries for TB/HIV and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. It ranked sixth among the 30 high TB burden countries and first in Africa.

‘’Also, 49 Nigerians develop active tuberculosis, six of which are children every hour. One of the major challenges of tuberculosis response in Nigeria is attributed to low tuberculosis case findings in both adult and children,” he stated.