From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The Federal Government has highlighted the importance of community engagement and involvement in the fight against Tuberculosis (TB) in Nigeria, in line with the global target of ending the disease by 2035.
The government acknowledged that community leaders command massive loyalty, support, and trust from the people, hence the importance of their involvement in the fight, particularly in case finding and contact tracing.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, told journalists at a press conference on World TB Day in Abuja on Tuesday that the government was leveraging the expertise of revered traditional and community leaders to strengthen community advocacy and mobilisation.
The Minister, who was represented by Dr. Nse Akpan, Director of Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said that community engagement and involvement remain central to efforts to end the TB epidemic, fostering community participation and ownership, and reducing stigma.
“TB interventions are being implemented through community-based organizations, and community TB workers across all 36 states and the FCT. Our collaboration with the private sector extends beyond service delivery, leveraging corporate social responsibility initiatives to mobilize additional resources and bridge the TB funding gap.
“In 2024, we successfully raised a $50 million bond to support TB control efforts in Nigeria, with the private sector contributing 50 per cent of this amount. A significant portion of the private sector has fulfilled its commitment, and we urge those yet to do so to kindly honour their pledges.”
WHO Country Representative, Walter Mulumbo, represented by Dr. Mya Ngon, Team Lead, Communicable & Non-Communicable Diseases, WHO, in his remarks, said the WHO stands in solidarity with the millions of people who fall ill with TB every year, and also remembered the millions who die because of the disease, which, he said, is a preventable and curable disease.
“Again, it is a day we salute all the frontline health workers in the fight to end TB and other diseases everywhere in the country, including communities, civil society organizations, academia, advocates, programme management staff at national and subnational levels, and donors.
“The theme for this year ‘Yes! We can end TB: Commit, Invest and Deliver’ and Nigeria slogan ‘We fit do am’ conveys a strong call for hope, urgency and accountability. At the second UN High Level Meeting on TB held in 2023, the World Leaders made bold, ambitious commitments to accelerate the global fight against tuberculosis, setting concrete, measurable targets for 2027.
“As a global health organization, WHO will continue to provide normative guidance, mobilize resources for the TB response, and strengthen the capacity of health system and the community, working in close collaboration with all stakeholders to end the TB epidemic. We must sustain the efforts, and the gains achieved in these past years to stop the spread of the disease and end the TB epidemic by 2035.”
He promised that WHO would continue to support Nigeria in developing and implementing guidelines, plans, frameworks, and strategic documents to end the TB epidemic in Nigeria.
“WHO, in collaboration with partners will continue to provide technical support for building capacity of frontline health care workers on the provision of basic essential TB services in the country under the GC7 grant,” he said.
Ms. Uzoma Nwofor, Senior Communications Manager, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), in her remarks on behalf of IHVN management, renewed the organisation’s commitment to the fight against TB in Nigeria.
She highlighted some of the past activities of IHVN that have contributed to the continuous achievements regarding TB cases in Nigeria, promising a reinvigorated commitment to the cause of ending TB by 2035, in line with the global target.