The Kaduna State Ministry of Health, on Tuesday, said the state recorded 32,297 tuberculosis cases in 2023.
The Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Umma Kaltume-Ahmed, disclosed this at a press briefing to mark the 2024 World Tuberculosis Day celebration in Kaduna.
The 2024 World TB Day theme is “Yes, We Can End TB”, and its Slogan, is: “No Gree For TB, Check Am O”.
She said the cases of Tuberculosis detection in the state rose from 21,557 in 2022 to 32,297 in 2023.
The Kaduna commissioner said, ” This represents a 49.8 per cent increase in 2021 compared to 2022.
“This case detection rate represents 159 per cent of the state TB case detection target.
”This shows a significant improvement in case finding compared to 53 per cent obtained in 2022.
“And it reflects the improved support the State TB programme received from the State Government and our development partners.”
According to Kaltume-Ahmed, the 2024 theme was a follow-up call to the commitment made by global leaders at the UN high-level meeting on TB in New York in 2020.
Kaltume-Ahmed said,” It was to support the target to end the TB epidemic by the year 2030 via supporting the scale-up of TB access to prevention.
”Others are diagnosis and treatment, sustainable financing including research and ending stigma and discrimination against people affected by TB,” she said
The commissioner added that tuberculosis remained one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.
Kaltume-Ahmed said, ” Each day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB, and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease.
“Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 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.
“This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.”
She added that more investment would save millions, and more lives, and accelerate the end of the Tuberculosis epidemic.
Kaltume-Ahmed added, “We must continue to remind ourselves of the dreaded effect of Tuberculosis, which continues to cause untold morbidity and mortality among our populace.
“World TB Day provides a unique opportunity for continuous sensitisation of Tuberculosis.”
She said the state had scaled up the number of facilities providing TB services to 78 per cent coverage.
Kaltume-Ahmed said, “We will continue supporting this until every facility in the state provides TB services.”
According to her, the state’s treatment success rate is about 98.4 per cent indicating that the diagnosed cases of TB are being managed successfully.
Kaltume-Ahmed said, “TB/HIV collaboration in the state has been remarkable. 100 per cent of people living with HIV (PLHIV) are screened for TB, and all those co-infected with TB are placed on anti-TB, ART and CPT.”
According to her, following the state government’s desire to reduce cases of tuberculosis in the state, it procured five mobile diagnostic trucks.
They were equipped with 10 four Modular Gene Xpert machines and digital X-ray machines for integrated community diagnosis through outreaches, especially in hard-to-reach communities across the State.
Kaltume-Ahmed said, “This level of commitment and support has earned the state a national award for the second-best state TB programme.
”It also clinched the best state in data management, the best in X-ray Utilisation, and the best State in financial management in the country in 2023.”
Additionally, she said, the state has been recognised amongst the states with a significant increase in TB case findings achieved in 2023.
Kaltume-Ahmed said, “This demonstrates that the more you invest in TB, the more lives you save.”
She called on the residents to seize the opportunity and get tested when they cough consistently for two or more weeks.
“The fight against TB is a collective one. I call on all well-meaning residents of the state and public and private organizations to join the state government in investing in ending TB and saving lives.
“I also call on everyone to use the opportunity to get tested when they cough consistently for either two or more weeks.
“But be rest assured that the disease is curable, and the diagnosis and treatment are free and readily available in the state,” Kaltume-Ahmed said.
NAN
