14,285 tuberculosis cases were detected through the Active Case Finding (ACF) Project of the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) from February 2016 to September 2017.
The ACF which is funded by the Global Fund grant to fight TB, is a strategic approach to find and treat people infected by TB for free in 20 high-burden states in Nigeria.
Mr Richard Olukolade, TB Project Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, ARFH, revealed this at the 3rd Quarter Principal Recipient/Sub Recipient review meeting of the Global Fund TB grant held from 3rd to 4th November 2017 in Nasarawa State.
He said: “the TB cases detected by the 870 Community-Based Organizations working with ARFH and sub recipients from 2016 to September 2017 is 14,285”.
According to the data presented by Mr Olukolade, the states where the highest number of cases was detected include Kano (3200), Oyo (2,186), Kaduna (1,365), Lagos (1,262) and Osun (946).
“There has been a steady increase in cases detected and placed on treatment almost every quarter as it increased from 2,366 in the second quarter of 2017 to 3,365 cases in the period from July to September 2017”, he said.
The Project Coordinator of ARFH TB Project, Dr Queen Ogbuji, said certain follow-up actions would be intensified to support the ACF to make the efforts of the principal recipient, sub recipients, government, CBOs and all partners to count.
“To find more cases, we will ensure the efficient use of childhood chest X-ray fund, continue promoting use of GeneXpert machines for TB diagnosis, and support ongoing surveys and operations research in states”.
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