Tuberculosis-free Nigeria: Find. Treat. Cure TB
‘We must work together to accelerate and remove obstacles to DOT expansion, promote top level political commitment, provide adequate financial support and improve quality of TB services throughout the country’ – Prof O.A. Ladipo, President and CEO of ARFH
Tuberculosis has emerged as a serious public health issue in Nigeria compounded by lack of access evident based information on services including treatment and care. TB is curable, but our current efforts to find, treat and cure everyone who gets ill with the disease are not sufficient. Of the 8.6 million people a year who get sick with TB worldwide, a third of them are ‘missed’ by public health systems. Many of these three million people live in the world’s poorest, most vulnerable communities and include groups such as migrants, miners, nomadic, drug users, sex workers and prisoners.
As the World marked the 2014 World TB Day on March 2014, ARFH recognizes the efforts of National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme and other stakeholders in TB control in Nigeria. As one of the Principal recipient of the Global Fund TB grant, ARFH is working with NTBLCP through its various levels of implementation on the efforts to reduce the burden of tuberculosis through the strengthening capacity of health workers and prompt supply and distribution of high-quality anti-TB drugs and laboratory reagents. ARFH-Global Fund supported Community TB program has coverage in 24 states, 240 LGAs and 720 communities/wards of the federation. Also, 10 GeneXpert Machines and 350 Binocular Microscopes have been provided to support diagnosis of TB this year.
World TB Day is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly one-and-a-half million people each year, mostly in developing countries. Speaking at the World TB Day Ministerial Press Conference on behalf of Prof. O. A. Ladipo, Mrs. Kehinde Osinowo urged all Nigerians, development partners and the private sector to support the National TB Control Programme for greater commitment in the implementation of our TB prevention activities for Tuberculosis-free Nigeria. As part of the events, representatives from ARFH participated at various media interviews including the first ever Twitter-Chat on TB in Nigeria via #WorldTBDayng with over 1.6M online impact while The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Jamilya Sherova joined in the celebration while on Grant Management Visit to ARFH.
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