Kaltume-Ahmed, the state commissioner for health, made this announcement during a press conference held in Kaduna to commemorate World Tuberculosis Day.
“Tuberculosis case detection in the state has increased, from 21,557 cases in 2022 to 32,297 in 2023. This represents an increase of 49.8 per cent compared to 2022,” she said.
According to the health commissioner, the case detection rate amounted to 159 per cent of the state’s target for finding tuberculosis cases.
She went on to say that, in comparison to 53 per cent in 2022, the development demonstrated a notable improvement in case finding and the enhanced support the state TB program received from the state government and development partners.
She, however, noted that tuberculosis remained one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.
“Each day, over 4,100 people lose their lives to TB, and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease,” she added.
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Kaltume-Ahmed explained that global efforts to combat TB had saved about 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.
“This conveys the urgent need to invest resources to ramp up the fight against TB and achieve global leaders’ commitments to end TB,” she said.
The slogan for the 2024 World TB Day is “No Gree For TB, Check Am O,” which is a follow-up to the pledge made by world leaders at the UN high-level meeting on TB in New York four years ago to support the goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2030. The theme of the event is “Yes, We Can End TB.”
Supporting the expansion of TB access to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention as well as sustainable funding for research and the eradication of stigma and discrimination against TB patients are all part of the campaign.
She said the government would keep funding this project until tuberculosis services are available at every facility in the state.
She added that the state’s treatment success rate was roughly 98.4%, meaning that tuberculosis cases that were diagnosed were effectively treated.
The commissioner did, however, emphasise that “the fight against TB is a collective one and call on all well-meaning Kaduna State residents as well as public and private organizations to join the Kaduna State Government in investing in ending TB and saving lives.”
