No fewer than 2,537 people were infected with tuberculosis in Ondo State in 2021, out of a total presumptive figure of 20, 470 cases in the year.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Banji Ajaka, disclosed this at a ceremony to mark the 2022 World Tuberculosis Day, in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Thursday.
The programme was themed ‘ Invest to end TB: Save lives.’
According to the commissioner, the theme of the programme conveyed the urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against tuberculosis and achieve the commitments “to end TB made by all of us. “
He stated, “ In 2020, Nigeria was one out of eight countries that accounted for two-thirds of people who developed tuberculosis. She also contributed two-thirds of the estimated cases of TB undetected with a TB mortality rate of 62 per 100, 000 population and treatment coverage of 30 per cent (NTBLCP 2021).
“Ondo State on the other hand was expected to notify a total of 11,100 TB cases in 2019. However only 1,891 cases were detected and placed on treatment by the State Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme with a gap of 83 per cent undetected.
“In 2020, a total of 1, 900 TB cases were notified out of total presumptive TB of 14, 688 and 12, 803 GeneXPERT diagnostic tests done. In 2021, a total of 2, 537 TB cases were notified (33.5per cent) increment compared to 2020) out of total presumptive TB of 20, 470 and 18, 285 GeneXPERT diagnostic tests. “
In her speech, the Country Representative of Damian Foundation, Mrs Ify Sule said the foundation, for the past 27 years, had been offering technical support to Nigeria in the areas of capacity building in the diagnosis and management of tuberculosis and leprosy, and infrastructural development of the health sector.
Source: PUNCH
