World Tuberculosis Day: Nigeria Ranks Sixth Among High Tuberculosis’s Burden Countries

Today is World Tuberculosis Day (WTD),

On the occasion the the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that plans to end tuberculosis by 2030 are under threat, as disease remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.

The WHO, in a statement, said that each day, close to 4400 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 74 million lives since the year 2000. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with conflicts across Europe, Africa and the Middle East and socioeconomic inequities, have reversed years of progress made in the fight to end TB.

Speaking during a road show to mark WTD in Abuja, Ahmad Muhammad Ozi,  Director in the Federal Ministry of Health’s Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme,  said Nigeria has a lot of missing cases of TB, and records about 400, 000 cases of TB yearly.

Nigeria is among the 14 high burden countries for TB,  and the country is ranked sixth among the 30 high TB burden countries globally and 1st in Africa.

World Tuberculosis Day is observed yearly on March 24 to raise awareness about TB and efforts to end the global epidemic, marking the day in 1882 when the bacterium causing TB was discovered.

This year  theme is ‘YES! WE CAN END TUBERCULOSIS!’ it is aims to inspire hope and encourage high-level leadership.