Wife Of President Becomes TB Ambassador

Aisha-BuhariThe STOP TB Partnership Nigeria, an affiliate of the Global Stop TB partnership, Geneva, has announced the acceptance of the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Hajiya Aisha Mohammadu Buhari to champion the eradication of TB in Nigeria and globally.
Chairman of the Partnership, Prof. Lovett Lawson, who stated this in a press briefing in the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) in Abuja, said that her nomination was in recognition of her passion to promote the wellbeing of women and children in Nigeria.
“We believe that the leadership of her Excellency in TB control will significantly augment the efforts aimed at controlling the spread of the disease amongst adults and children and improve the engagement and support of key stakeholders from public and private sectors to TB control in Nigeria and ensure a TB-free future for our children,” he said.
According to Prof. Lawson, Nigeria has the highest number of TB cases in Africa with approximately 600,000 people becoming infected with TB and the STOP TB Partnership Nigeria is a multi-stakeholder partnership of government and non-governmental organizations, private sector, development partners amongst others dedicated to ending the scourge of TB in the country.
Representative of World Health Organization, Dr. Ayodele Awe, lamented that the situation in which only 15% of the TB cases in the country are being detected. He noted that only about 100,000 out of 600,000 cases of TB are being detected though the disease is a number one killer of Nigerians. He stated that TB is a curable disease and free treatment is available for the disease.
Beyond TB, Drug Resistant TB (DR-TB) is also a challenge because it is more difficult to treat and requires more expensive medications. However, it is being treated in the country according to IHVN representative in the STOP TB Partnership, Mr. DeboOlateju.
“With support from the Global Fund and other partners, IHVN has treated 1,334 patients for DR-TB since 2011 and is carrying out initiation of DR-TB treatment in the community in 24 states in the country,” he said.


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