The World Health Organization has applauded Nigeria’s giant strides on TB treatment and detection calls for sustained tempo.
WHO country representative Dr. Walter Mulombo review this at the 2022 World TB Day Ministerial Press Briefing Thursday 24th March 2022 in Nigeria’s capital.
He said Nigeria has recorded a 50% increase in TB notification in 2021 compared to that of 2020, thus describing it as an outstanding achievement despite the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic.
“Nigeria is among only a few countries that registered increased TB case notification in 2021. This is also a notable milestone for the country with above 200,000 TB cases notified in a single year. We wish to congratulate the Hon Minister for this notable achievement.”
Speaking on the theme for this years’ commemoration “Invest to End TB. Save lives” and the slogan ” Give more, Do more, to End TB now” Dr. Mulombo noted that it calls for the urgent mobilization of resources to ramp up the fight against TB in line with the commitments to end TB as projected by global leaders, hence appealing to the Nigerian government to do more in diagnoses and treatment so as to end the scourge.
“As we all know, TB remains the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent with estimated 10 million people that had TB in 2020, with Nigeria and seven other countries accounting for two-thirds of this global burden. We also know that Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) and HIV co-infection is further complicating measures to address the burden of TB in countries.”
The country representative, therefore, pledges WHO’s continued support to enhancing TB control strategies while fostering partnerships, innovation, finding missing cases, and building capacity for all facets of TB control to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of ending TB by 2030.
