As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2025 World Tuberculosis TB) Day, the country’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu has pledged an additional N1 billion from the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) to strengthen TB control efforts nationwide.
Tinubu made the pledge on Monday, during the World Tuberculosis Day commemoration in Abuja.
She informed that TB remained a leading infectious disease in Nigeria, recording over 200,000 new cases annually.
She therefore stated that the funds would be directed towards expanding TB awareness campaigns to encourage early detection and reduce stigma, enhancing TB screening and diagnostic services in underserved communities and supporting TB patients and their families with social protection measures.
On his part, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako thanked the Renewed Hope Initiative and praised frontline health workers for their tremendous support in the fight to eradicate TB from Nigeria:
“Nigeria is faced with significant challenges concerning TB. But despite those challenges, I must appreciate the frontline health workers for the good work they are doing. And I would like to humbly request a resounding applause for all the health workers in Nigeria,” he said.
The Minister highlighted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring Nigeria is not left behind in the global TB eradication agenda by 2030.
“The President has directed and has provided a new field environment for the primary healthcare revitalization, with over 10,000 primary healthcare centres currently being upgraded.
“In addition, we are training over 120,000 health workers at advanced levels to strengthen TB control efforts”, he said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Nigeria, Dr. Walter Mulombo, stated that the country was at risk of losing two decades of progress against TB due to global funding cuts.
“Today we face the existential threat of losing the huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years due to funding cuts, which have started to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB,” he said.
Despite this challenge, Mulombo commended Nigeria’s progress, citing a 300 per cent increase in TB case notifications over the past five years:
“In a space of five years, Nigeria has scaled up many innovations and interventions that have resulted in the huge numbers of TB cases notified from 138,583 in 2020 during the pandemic year to 418,198 in 2024,” he said.
He cited mobilisation of resources, enhancing TB awareness and vaccination efforts as game changers in the country’s eradication efforts.
He therefore urged community leaders to take charge of health promotion in their communities, ensuring access to preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative health services.
“TB is curable and treatable; I implore anyone coughing for two weeks or more to go for a TB test at the nearest health facility,” he said.
The theme of this year’s World TB Day theme is, “Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”.
