FG will carry out nationwide drug-resistant tuberculosis survey

To ascertain the true prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Nigeria, a nationwide drug-resistant tuberculosis census is scheduled for this year, according to Prof. Muhammad Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare.

According to Pate, the survey will direct focused efforts aimed at combating the nation’s drug-resistant tuberculosis epidemic.

Pate made these remarks on Thursday in Abuja during the Global Stop TB Partnership’s investiture of First Lady Senator Remi Tinubu as the national and international champion for ending tuberculosis.

Additionally, the 36 state First Ladies received recognition as Stop TB champions in their own states.

The World Health Organization states that Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, is the source of the disease and frequently affects the lungs.

When someone with lung TB coughs, sneezes, or spits, the disease is transferred through the air. A few bacteria must be inhaled for an individual to get an infection.

Nigeria is the first country in Africa and the sixth in the world, respectively, with a high TB burden.

In Nigeria, the disease was projected to have infected 479,000 people in 2022. This indicates that one person in the nation contracts tuberculosis on average every minute.

Even though the disease is curable and preventative, a projected 97,900 TB fatalities occurred in Nigeria in 2022, or one person dying from TB every five minutes.

resistant to drugs Bacteria that cause tuberculosis are resistant to at least one first-line anti-tuberculosis medication.

Pate stated that the ministry introduced Nigeria’s Health system Renewal Programme at the beginning of this government, in keeping with the Federal Government’s renewed hope agenda. The programme is based on a four-point agenda that aims to revolutionize Nigeria’s health system.

According to him, the agenda will unlock the healthcare value chain, enhance population health outcomes and governance, and guarantee health security for every Nigerian.

According to the minister, the government is providing primary health care facilities with the tools and staff they need to provide comprehensive care, especially in underserved and rural areas, in order to improve health outcomes and lessen the burden of diseases like tuberculosis.

“Our efforts at ending the TB epidemic in Nigeria resulted in the expansion of TB treatment services (DOTs centres) to about 22,000 health facilities and GeneXpert equipment – a rapid molecular test for TB – to 512 as of the end of 2023.

“We are scaling up the use of digital X-ray with artificial intelligence for TB screening among key and vulnerable populations (including children) as we currently boast of 51 mobile digital X-ray platforms nationwide within the program, and an additional 350 digital X-ray machines will be available before the end of June 2024.

“As part of our diagnostic optimisation plan, we have also instituted a strong specimen referral network utilizing a hub-and-spoke model that was responsible for the transport of over 2.4 million samples in 2023 for TB tests.”

In the fight to eradicate tuberculosis in Nigeria, he said, the government is also implementing the all-of-society strategy through partnerships with the community and the private sector.

“We have developed a robust Public-Private Mix DOTs plan for the engagement of the private sector. Currently, 3,733 private facilities have been engaged as of the end of 2023 to provide TB treatment services.

“In addition, we are promoting community ownership of the TB intervention using Community-Based Organisations and Community Volunteers engaged to find TB cases in the community. The PPM-DOTs and Community interventions contributed about 30 per cent and 43 per cent of our TB notifications in 2023, respectively.

“This year we will be conducting a National Drug-Resistant Survey through the support of USAID and partners to determine the actual burden of drug-resistant TB, and this will guide our targeted actions in addressing the epidemic of drug-resistant TB in Nigeria.

“Our commitment and drive to end TB in Nigeria, in collaboration with our partners, resulted in a record TB case notification in 2023, with the country notifying over 360,000 TB cases. This is the first time ever since the inception of the TB control efforts over 35 years ago that we crossed the 300,000 mark in TB notifications. About 98 per cent of the TB patients in 2023 had documented HIV status.”

Nonetheless, he claimed that in 2023, more than 140,000 TB cases remained undiagnosed and untreated.

“This highlights the need for continued and intensified efforts to find the missing TB cases and address other challenges such as low childhood TB & DR-TB notification, limited access to diagnostic tools, low awareness about TB in the community, and sub-optimal coverage of health facilities and communities with TB services.

“Furthermore, addressing the social determinants of TB, such as poverty, inequality, and limited access to healthcare, remains one of the major prongs in our efforts to end TB in Nigeria,”

“The Federal Ministry of Health, under my watch, is putting in place an efficient, resilient, equitable, affordable, and quality health system to improve health outcomes for all non-communicable and communicable diseases, including TB, HIV, and Malaria, by delivering preventive, promotive, and curative services at primary healthcare facilities and in all our hospitals. We have commenced the training of our health workforce in phases.

“We have started the process to implement a unified electronic health information system to ensure we have reliable data for decision-making and are finalizing processes to put in place an innovative system that will ensure sustainable domestic financing and strengthen health sector governance.

“Most importantly, we are rapidly establishing smart partnerships with national and international partners, under the Presidential Initiative to Unlock the Health Sector Value Chain, to promote domestic manufacturing of our pharmaceutical and other health products. This is critical for meeting our goals to save lives and reduce the physical and financial pains faced by Nigerians,” he added.

Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Chief Austin Obiefuna, Dr. Gidado Mustapha, Dr. Chukwuna Anyaike, ATM Shafa Holdings, and the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa initiative were among the people honored for their efforts to the TB epidemic during the occasion.