Governors Tasked On Tuberculosis Scourge

Director-general of Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum (NGF) Asishana Okauru has tasked Nigerian state governors to expunge Tuberculosis (TB) intervention programme from Universal Basic Health and treat it with the desired urgency going forward.

Okauru who stated this during an advocacy meeting with the Stop TB Partnership team in Abuja, committed to put the TB fight at the forefront as a priority issue for the governors.

Meanwhile, the executive director, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr. Lucica Dittu, who congratulated Nigeria on the strides achieved in the last two years, however presented the challenges faced by TB, which according to her, include huge financial gap.

Lucica, who stated this during an advocacy visit to the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja, identified other areas of challenges as the increasing cases of childhood TB, low treatment outcomes, amongst others.

She therefore stressed the need to have more TB representatives on the CCM and the need for Nigeria to have an online live data platform where the progress can be centrally monitored.

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Also, acting board chair, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Dr. Queen Ogbuji, emphasised that changing the narrative of financial funding will require commitment and joint effort by parliamentarians, ministers of finance and health.

She also called on the government to make office accommodation a priority so that the funding from the Global Fund will be reserved exclusively for programmatic use.

In his response, the minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, acknowledged that TB needed more support while committing to collaborate with the Ministry of Finance, the parliament and also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

He said he will explore all avenues to see how more resources can be mobilised for the fight against TB?

The minister also commended Stop TB Partnership and announced that the ministry had also started partnership with the private sector to improve TB testing in the country.