BY UBON EKANEM, CALABAR – Available statistics indicate that Nigeria recoded about 120,266 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) infections in 2019, with 75 per cent of those affected recovering after being treated by Tuberculosis Foundation in the country.
Specifically, Akwa Ibom state alone witnessed about 3,500 detected cases that were quarantined for treatment with 12 per cent of the reported patients being teenagers below the age of 12 years.
Senior Programme Manager and Cluster Team Leader for Akwa Ibom, Dr Chukwuemeka A. Ihesie, revealed these figures while on a virtual media conference with other stakeholders recently.
Ihesie said of the 31 Local Government areas in the state, 12 have so far benefited from the “Wellness On Wheels (WOW) truck one-stop mobile screening and diagnostic rural campaign meant to deliver effective door to door TB diagnostic services in rural areas.”
He explained that the programme has impacted positively on the people as the digital chest X-ray machine fitted with artificial intelligence and gene-Xpert machines has added great value to TB case tracing efforts in the state.
Consequently, he stated that about 35 new TB cases were diagnosed within a week and the patients have commenced treatment to avoid transmission and subsequent spread.
On partners collaborating to enhance effective delivery of efficient TB services to the people, Ihesie commended the collaborative efforts of Breakthrough Action Nigeria, a United State Agency for International Development (USAID)- sponsored Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in coordinating media participants to debunk misconceptions and myths about TB and creating the required awareness about it symptoms, prevention and treatment.
The Programme Manager identified poor public power supply as the greatest challenge militating against effective service delivery to the populace as the Gene-xpert sites require regular power supply to enable the machines to function optimally while carrying out uninterrupted testing of sputum samples from suspected TB patients.
The Gene-xpert machines that conduct diagnoses require a cool ambient temperature that is regulated by air-conditioning system to ensure reliable testing results.
Forefront findings also showed that the global outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic severely affected healthcare delivery services especially as it concerned TB treatment as Covid-19 lockdown hampered the movement of human and material services to areas that require TB diagnosis and treatments.
Meanwhile, Breakthrough Action Nigeria is embarking on media awareness campaign to clear the misconceptions and myths surrounding Tuberculosis infection and treatment alongside the similarities and differences between TB and COVID-19
