Every Hour 18 Nigerians Die Of TB, Says Expert

A Tuberculosis (TB), expert Lovett Lawson said every one hour, about 18 Nigerians die from tuberculosis.

He said that unfortunately, despite significant progress made over the last few years, every hour, 18 Nigerians still die of TB; a disease that is preventable and curable. “It is on this basis that Stop TB partnership Nigeria is working with other partners to complement the efforts of the government to end TB in Nigeria.”

Mr Lawson, who is a Board Chair for Stop TB partnership Nigeria made this known at a Pre world TB Day press conference held in Abuja yesterday.

He said Nigeria has the highest burden of the disease in Africa and third highest burden in the world after India and Indonesia.

He lamented that over 75 percent of Nigerians with the disease are yet to be diagnosed or receiving any form of treatment.

This, he blamed on the lack of awareness about the disease among the communities and the social stigma attached to those diagnosed with the ailment.

He said though in recent times, Nigeria has been improving its efforts to finding the missing cases, but those cases yet to be detected are more than those reported. This he said is very important because the missing cases are risk to those who are yet to get infected. 

Mr Lawson advised that Nigerians who have been coughing for more than two weeks need to visit the health facilities.

We also want to use this opportunity to call on the president, Muhammadu Buhari, to accelerate TB response and keep the promise made on TB at the UN meeting in New York last year.

The president had joined other Heads of states at the first ever UN high level meeting in September 2018 to accelerate TB response in countries to end TB. There Mr. Buhari had pledged to commit to ending TB in Nigeria. 

The World TB Day is celebrated every March 24 to raise awareness about the health, social and economic consequence of the disease and to step up efforts to end the epidemic.

According to Global TB report, TB causes ill health for approximately 10 million people each year.

Similarly, Adebola Lawanson, the National Coordinator, National Tuberculosis Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme said the disease though preventable and curable is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

Lawanson who was represented by Emperor Ubochioma, lamented that Nigeria still ranks high among countries with the highest burden of the diseases. He said Nigeria has so far been able to detect only 25 percent of people with the disease.

With this low rate of detection, Nigeria is classified among countries with high burden for TB, TB/HIV and MDR-TB and currently ranked sixth globally and first in Africa.

Lawanson said the country contributes 9 percent to the global 3.6 million missing TB cases after India and Indonesia with 26 percent and 11 percent respectively. He said an estimated 418,000 new TB cases occur in Nigeria in 2018.

He said the missing TB cases can be found among men, women and children with different forms of TB including drug resistance TB.

TB has remained a major global problem. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and the leading cause from a single infectious agent, ranking above HIV/AIDS.

In 2017, there were an estimated 1.3 million TB deaths among HIV negative people and an additional 300,000 deaths among HIV- positive people.

Despite these poor indices, most deaths from TB can be prevented with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Millions of people are diagnosed and successfully treated for TB each year and about 54 million deaths were averted from 2000- 2017”, he said.