The Kaduna State Government said it recorded 32,297 cases of tuberculosis in 2023 as the state reduced the risk of spreading the disease.
The State Commissioner for Health, Umma Kaltume-Ahmed disclosed this at a press briefing to mark the World Tuberculosis day celebration on Thursday, in Kaduna.
Kaltume-Ahmed stressed that Tuberculosis detection in the state increased from 21,557 cases in 2022 to 32,297 in 2023.
“This represents an increase of 49.8 per cent compared to 2022. This case detection rate represents 159 per cent of the state TB case detection target,” the Commissioner said.
She explained further that the development shows a significant improvement in case finding compared to 53 per cent obtained in 2022, and reflects the improved support the State TB programme receives from the state government and development partners.
She said, the 2024 World TB Day themed “Yes, We Can End TB”, and its slogan “No Gree For TB, Check Am O” was a follow-up call to the commitment made by global leaders at the UN high-level meeting on TB in New York four years ago to end the epidemic by the year 2030.
The commissioner however noted that tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers with over 4,100 people daily losing their lives to the infection and close to 28,000 people falling ill with this preventable and curable disease.
She further declared that global efforts to combat the disease have saved an estimated 66 million lives in 24 years.
“Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 66 million lives since 2000. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight to end TB. For the first time in over a decade, TB deaths increased in 2020,” she said.
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