The Executive Director, Stop tuberculosis partnership Geneva, Dr. Lucica Ditiu, has decried the slow pace and poor conditions of tuberculosis work in Nigeria.
Ditiu disclosed this in a goodwill message in Lagos at a dinner with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and the Private Sector community on Domestic Resource Mobilisation to end tuberculosis in Nigeria.
According to reports, the event was organised by Stop tuberculosis partnership Nigeria, as part of the High-level Mission on Domestic Resource Mobilisation to end tuberculosis in Nigeria.
Ditiu decried that in Nigeria, despite all the different languages, tuberculosis had not received the required attention.
She lamented that being a curable disease, tuberculosis was still killing people on daily basis, “perhaps because it doesn’t affect rich people.”
Ditiu said that some of the challenges the country was faced with in tuberculosis eradication included a huge financial gap and improvement in diagnostics through priority funding of state governments among others.
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The executive director, however, heaved a sigh of relief as Gov. Sanwo-Olu cared and understood that TB was a threat and had heeded the clarion call to stop tuberculosis.
Similarly, Dr. Queen Ogbuji-Ladipo, Board Chair, Stop tuberculosis said” TB kills more than HIV/AIDS,” saying that Nigeria was among the 30 high tuberculosis burden countries in the world.
Ogbuji-Ladipo, who lamented that the country was 6th globally and 2nd in Africa, noted that this was unacceptable as tuberculosis was both preventable and treatable.
She, however, noted that there were limited financial resources for tuberculosis response in Nigeria, saying only 31 per cent was available for implementation leaving a gap of 69 per cent.
According to her, it will be very difficult for tuberculosis eradication to reach its desired goal with the gap level.
She asked that all hands be on deck in the discussion on ways to mobilise resources to achieve a desired sustainable result.
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