Lagos State To Include TB In Health Insurance

The Lagos state government says it has included treatment of tuberculosis into the state’s health insurance scheme.

The state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, disclosed the development during a webinar organised by Stop TB Partnership Nigeria in collaboration with the National TB and Leprosy Control Program, Economic Summit Group (NESG), and Anadach Consulting Limited.

He said that the State government was determined to change the narrative of high TB prevalence in Lagos and its enviable position as the State with the highest TB burden.

He called on all stakeholders in the TB space and most importantly the private sector to key into the work the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria was doing to increase local resource mobilization and see a Nigeria Free of TB.

Mr. Sanwo-Olu also encouraged all hands to be on deck to fight TB just as it was done for Malaria. He appreciated stakeholders in the fight against TB, saying that TB was becoming more prevalent and that its control must be a global agenda in which everyone must show commitment and be part of the fight to bring the disease to an end.

Also speaking, the Director and National Coordinator, NTBLCP, Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike steps were taken in collaboration with the material, adolescent and new born child programmes, visiting of the child welfare and growth monitoring clinics across the country.

He noted that the stool of any malnourished child in the country was subjected to the Genexpert tests, adding that this had yielded good results and the programme and partners were planning to scale up nationally.

The Stop TB Partnership, a hosted entity of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), says it will ensure there are manufacturers producing test for latent Tuberculosis (TB), tools and making them available.

On her part, the Executive Director,Stop TB Partnership, Dr Lucica Ditiu, said that the new test for latent TB would become available in a few months.

She noted that the World Health Organization(WHO), has issued guidance on that.

She stressed that TB was a big health threat and TB was killing more people than COVID-19 pandemic.

The Executive Director said that the issue about TB was underplayed in Nigeria and proper awareness creation was needed to get this peace killer out of the country.

Dr. Ditiu noted that the populace understand the various kinds of TB especially the “drug-resistance-TB. She said that Lagos state has the power, energy and mindset to be regarded as a country of its own because it has a very participative state governor.

Facilitator Health Policy Commission, Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Dr Nkata Chukchi in his presentation highlighted the need for the private sector to contribute to stopping TB in Nigeria.