Lara Adejoro
The Federal Government has revealed that a national drug-resistant survey on Tuberculosis will be conducted this year to determine the actual burden of drug-resistant TB in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate on Thursday in Abuja during the investiture of the First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu as the Global and National Stop TB champion by the Global Stop TB Partnership.
First Ladies from the 36 states were also conferred Stop TB champions in their various states.
Pate explained that the survey will guide the targeted actions in addressing the epidemic of drug-resistant TB in the country.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB is a disease caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs.
The disease is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit. A person needs to inhale only a few germs to become infected.
Nigeria is ranked sixth and first country with a high burden of TB in the world and Africa respectively.
An estimated 479,000 persons in Nigeria contracted the disease in 2022. This represents an average of one person developing TB every minute in the country.
An estimated 97,900 TB deaths occurred in Nigeria in 2022, equating to one person dying from TB every five minutes, even when the disease is curable and preventable
Drug-resistant TB is caused by TB bacteria that are resistant to at least one first-line anti-TB drug.
Pate noted that at the inception of this administration and in line with the Federal Government’s renewed hope agenda, the ministry launched Nigeria’s Health Sector Renewal Programme, anchored on a four-point agenda aimed at revolutionising Nigeria’s health sector.
He said the agenda will improve governance and population health outcomes, unlock the healthcare value chain, and provide health security for all Nigerians.
The minister said the government is equipping the Primary Health Care facilities with essential facilities and personnel to deliver comprehensive services, particularly in rural and underserved areas, with the goal of improving health outcomes and reducing the burden of preventable diseases such as TB.
“Our efforts at ending the TB epidemic in Nigeria resulted in the expansion of TB treatment services (DOTs centres) to about 22,000 health facilities and GeneXpert equipment – a rapid molecular test for TB – to 512 as of the end of 2023.
“We are scaling up the use of digital X-ray with artificial intelligence for TB screening among key and vulnerable populations (including children) as we currently boast of 51 mobile digital X-ray platforms nationwide within the program, and an additional 350 digital X-ray machines will be available before the end of June 2024. As part of our diagnostic optimisation plan, we have also instituted a strong specimen referral network utilizing a hub-and-spoke model that was responsible for the transport of over 2.4 million samples in 2023 for TB tests,” he stated.
Pate said the government is also adopting the all-of-society approach through collaborations with the private sector and the community in the fight to end TB in Nigeria.
He said, “We have developed a robust Public-Private Mix DOTs plan for the engagement of the private sector. Currently, there are 3,733 private facilities that have been engaged as of the end of 2023 to provide TB treatment services. In addition, we are promoting community ownership of the TB intervention using Community-Based Organisations and Community Volunteers engaged to find TB cases in the community. The PPM-DOTs and Community interventions contributed about 30 per cent and 43 per cent of our TB notifications in 2023, respectively.
“This year we will be conducting a National Drug-Resistant Survey through the support of USAID and partners to determine the actual burden of drug-resistant TB, and this will guide our targeted actions in addressing the epidemic of drug-resistant TB in Nigeria.
“Our commitment and drive to end TB in Nigeria, in collaboration with our partners, resulted in a record TB case notification in 2023, with the country notifying over 360,000 TB cases. This is the first time ever since the inception of the TB control efforts over 35 years ago that we crossed the 300,000 mark in TB notifications. About 98 per cent of the TB patients in 2023 had documented HIV status.”
He, however, said over 140,000 TB cases were not diagnosed and placed on treatment in 2023.
The minister added, “This highlights the need for continued and intensified efforts to find the missing TB cases and address other challenges such as low childhood TB & DR-TB notification, limited access to diagnostic tools, low awareness about TB in the community, and sub-optimal coverage of health facilities and communities with TB services.
“Furthermore, addressing the social determinants of TB, such as poverty, inequality, and limited access to healthcare, remains one of the major prongs in our efforts to end TB in Nigeria,”
“The Federal Ministry of Health, under my watch, is putting in place an efficient, resilient, equitable, affordable, and quality health system to improve health outcomes for all non-communicable and communicable diseases, including TB, HIV, and Malaria, by delivering preventive, promotive, and curative services at primary healthcare facilities and in all our hospitals. We have commenced the training of our health workforce in phases.
“We have started the process to implement a unified electronic health information system to ensure we have reliable data for decision-making, and are finalizing processes to put in place an innovative system that will ensure sustainable domestic financing and strengthen health sector governance.
“Most importantly, we are rapidly establishing smart partnerships with national and international partners, under the Presidential Initiative to Unlock the Health Sector Value Chain, to promote domestic manufacturing of our pharmaceutical and other health products. This is critical for meeting our goals to save lives and reduce the physical and financial pains faced by Nigerians.”
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