NGF: COVID-19 slowed down fight against tuberculosis

Kayode Fayemi, chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and governor of Ekiti state, says he and his colleagues are working to end the spread of tuberculosis in the country.

In a statement, Fayemi said Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest problem of TB, ranking first in Africa and sixth globally.

Tuberculosis is a deadly and infectious disease that affects millions of people globally.

“It is estimated that about 18 Nigerians die of tuberculosis every day which translates to 432 people monthly and 157,000 people yearly,” the Ekiti governor said.

“Over the decades, the government and partners have implemented various interventions to ensure that people with TB are found and treated.”

Fayemi said that the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic had “impacted on the health system including TB services, setting back progress made”.

While reeling out governments’ plan towards the eradication of the disease, he said, state TB programmes would be effectively supported to revitalise and upgrade health facilities, especially diagnosis.

“In accordance with the theme of this year’s World TB day— ‘The Clock is Ticking,’ we reaffirm our commitment to work with other stakeholders to end TB in our respective states,” he said.

“We also call on the federal government to provide the necessary support to the states to be able to domesticate and achieve the targets and commitments made at the United Nation high-level meeting on tuberculosis held in 2018.”

Global efforts have saved an estimated 63 million lives from tuberculosis since 2000.