Unacceptable for 170, 000 Nigerians to die of TB annually – Aisha Buhari
By Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
The First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has raised the alarm that over 170, 000 Nigerians die annually from tuberculosis which she lamented is preventable and curable.
Mrs. Buhari, who stressed the need to accelerate efforts toward combating the disease, promised to use her position to mobilise more resources for tuberculosis from government.
The first lady who is also a Global TB champion and ambassador made this known at the second national tuberculosis conference with the theme: “Building stronger partnerships to end TB in Nigeria” held in Abuja.
Represented by her Chief of Staff, Dr. Hajo Sani, Mrs. Buhari expressed displeasure that out of the approximated 600, 000 persons infected with tuberculosis every year, 60, 000 of them affected were children.
“Over 600, 000 people become infected with tuberculosis in Nigeria every year. It is projected that up to 60, 000 of those new cases affect children. It is also not acceptable that Nigeria is having one of the lowest tuberculosis case detection rates in the world as it is currently detecting about 25 per cent of cases with over 170, 000 Nigerians dying from a preventable and curable disease.
‘’This is not an enviable position and situation for any country and it must change,” the first lady said.
She also promised to engage the wives of the 36 state governors and fellow African first ladies towards forming an alliance with a view to positioning the disease in the political agenda of governments at all levels.
Dr. Rebecca Martins in her keynote address lamented that close to 40 per cent of the total estimated tuberculosis cases and 80 per cent of the estimated multi-drug resistant cases remain undiagnosed or unreported.
“These missing cases result in continued tuberculosis transmission and contribute to substantial tuberculosis morbidity and mortality. Despite these grim statistics, we are standing at a time of great opportunity for tuberculosis.
“To reach the global targets outlined in the end tuberculosis strategy, we must change the trajectory of the epidemic and bend or even better break the TB incidence and mortality curves, by addressing the drivers of this global epidemic,” she added.
