From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Stakeholders involved in Tuberculosis (TB) response in Nigeria have begun the process that might culminate in the domestication of the Political Declaration of United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on the fight against TB.
The stakeholders led by Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, believe that such decision would help each member-country to focus on ways to achieve the UNHLM goals on TB using their unique strengths and peculiarities available in their country.
The UNHLM Political Declaration was adopted by the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on October, 2023, by Heads of State and Governments, reaffirming their commitment to end TB epidemic by 2030.
The abridged version of the Political Declaration made case for numeric targets and non-numerical commitments. The numerical component has; diagnosis, treatment and prevention, financing TB responses, while the non-numeric commitments include; the national strategic plans; communities, rights and gender; research and development; improved access to drugs, diagnostics and new tools; Primary Health Care (PHC) and health system; Anti-microbial resistance; Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and pandemic preparedness; and Accountability.
Austin Obiefuna, Board Vice-Chairman, Stop TB Partnership Geneva; told journalists at the National Stakeholders’ Consultation on Post-UNHLM on TB, in Abuja, that Nigeria need to act fast on issues of TB interventions in order to meet the 2030 global target.
He said: “The UNHLM Political Declaration is a global one. So, there’s need for countries to make it aligned with their local needs, all geared towards achieving the goals set by the UN against TB.
“We are looking at countries domesticating the key highlights of the the UNHLM Political Declaration. For Nigeria, we have something already but there’s need for periodic review of the content of the existing guidelines which is not too far from the content of the UNHLM Political Declaration.
“In doing that, we need to have good knowledge of what the problems are before we design our responses in line with the content of the UNHLM Political Declaration. Undoubtedly, TB has been with us in Nigeria for a long time. To defeat the disease as being envisaged by 2030, we need a cocktail of activities to achieve that.”
He expressed optimism that the ongoing research and other efforts by scientists would lead to a positive result of vaccine development that will be effective against TB.
“Vaccine, undoubtedly, play the role of prevention which is better than cure. There’s BCG vaccine that has been in use for decades. Though, it’s for children but the efficacy is in doubt. So, it has not helped significantly in the fight against TB.”
In a presentation, the Deputy Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership Geneva, Sahu Suvananda, appreciated the organizers of the stakeholders’ consultative meeting, and challenged the participants to make useful contributions to the efforts to domesticate the UNHLM Political Declaration to suit the situation in Nigeria.
He told the participants that the content of the UNHLM Political Declaration was robust, but there was need for maximum buy-in of stakeholders at local levels to ensure that maximum result is achieved.
He assured of support and collaborations to any cause that would herald improved TB intervention at local and international levels.
Amos Omoniyi, an official of the World Health Organization (WHO), in a presentation titled “key milestones to ending TB in Nigeria by 2030/2035”, stressed the importance of political will to the cause of TB response in Nigeria.
He exposed participants to possible steps that would enable Nigeria achieve global target of defeating TB, and assured them that WHO and other partners are committed to playing their parts to ensure that the set objective is achieved.