Tuberculosis Day: Helpline preaches against patient’s stigmatisation

An Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organisation, Helpline Foundation for the Needy, has called on Nigerians not to stigmatise patients with tuberculosis so they would not hide their status.

The organisation tasked relevant authorities to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic, stating that tuberculosis remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries.

The President and Founder of Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, who made the call during a press conference to mark the 2020 World TB Day and advocated early diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care to check the spread of tuberculosis.

She noted that TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer with over 4000 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with the preventable and curable disease.

Ahmadu decried the fact that in developing countries, TB accounts for 7 per cent of all deaths, stressing that statistics also indicate that children constitute about 10 per cent of all new cases in high-burden areas.

Commenting on the 2020 theme: ‘It’s time,’ the Foundation president described the theme as apt; stating: “Each year, we commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.

“In this race to combat a disease that knows no boundaries, it is necessary to have a conceptual and clear understanding of TB overall with the hope of providing better treatment through novel and collaborative research and public health efforts. 

“World TB Day aims to save millions of preventable deaths each year by raising awareness about TB, and pushing governments and individuals across the globe to take action against the disease as in the case with the COVID-19. 

“We at Helpline Foundation for the Needy are disturbed because according to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the incidence of TB continues to grow at the reported cases, the number of deaths worldwide from TB will increase to more than 10.1 million by 2030.”

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