The World Health Organisation (WHO), KNCV Nigeria, and experts Wednesday called on governments to increase investments in tuberculosis to achieve the goal of eradicating the disease by 2030.
This was made known at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the 2024 World Tuberculosis Day.
The representative of the WHO, Dr Amos Omoniyi, said the TB is a killer-disease globally, with millions of deaths recorded annually.
Omoniyi said in 2022, Africa reported approximately 2.4 million cases of TB, with Nigeria contributing 479,000 cases.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs. It is the number one infectious killer disease in the world and also among the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
The 2024 WTBD is themed: “Yes, we can end TB” and Nigeria’s slogan is “No Gree For TB, Check Am O.”
He said out of the 424,000 TB-related deaths in Africa same year, 97,900 (23 per cent) occurred in Nigeria.
He said one person dies of TB every five minutes in Nigeria despite being a curable disease.
“It is very sad and painful that people still die from TB every day despite being a curable disease,” he said.
He noted that despite accounting for the high burden of the disease, Nigeria still has a 70 per cent funding gap in TB.
“This killer-disease is curable, preventable and can be eradicated if the government at all levels can invest more into tackling TB,” he said.
