The World Health Organization, KNCV Nigeria, has called on governments at all levels to increase funding to Tuberculosis programs to achieve Nigeria’s goal of eradicating the disease by 2030.
The appeal was made at a pre-world press conference held in Abuja ahead of the 2024 World Tuberculosis Day.
They noted that the persistently low awareness levels, particularly in rural areas, pose a significant threat to efforts aimed at addressing the deadly disease.
TB, a disease caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs is the number one infectious killer disease in the world and also among the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
It is spread from person to person through the air, while Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation ranks sixth amongst 30 countries globally with the highest burden of the disease.
Nigeria also ranks first in Africa when it comes to the number of undetected cases.
World Tuberculosis Day is marked on March 24 every year to create awareness about the impact of the disease.
The 2024 WTBD is themed, ‘Yes, we can end TB” and Nigeria’s slogan is “No gree for TB, check am o.”
Speaking at the event, a representative of the WHO, Dr Amos Omoniyi noted that TB is a killer disease globally, with millions of deaths recorded annually.
He said in 2022, the African region reported approximately 2.4 million cases of TB, with Nigeria contributing 479,000 cases (19 per cent).
He said out of the 424,000 TB-related deaths in Africa same year, 97,900 (23 per cent) occurred in Nigeria.
According to him, one person dies of TB every five minutes in Nigeria despite it being a curable disease.
“It is very sad and painful that people still die from TB every day despite being a curable disease,” he said.
