… Lagos contributes 11% of the National TB burden – expert
To ensure that Lagosians get adequate treatment for TB, the Lagos State Government under the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme, is providing free diagnosis and treatment to people with TB in various health facilities across the state.
This was disclosed by health experts at a one-day training for journalists on key concepts in Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, organised by the Institute of Human Virology (IHVN) in collaboration with Breakthrough Action-Nigeria (BA-N) and Lagos State Ministry of Health.
According to experts, Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the diseases that is preventable and curable, contrary to the myths and perceptions that many Nigerians have about the disease.
While speaking during the training, Dr. Olusola Sokoya, Deputy Director & Programme Manager, Lagos State Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme, explained that Lagos state started the TB intervention programme in 2003 and that the state currently contributes 11% of the National TB burden.
He said TB is a chronic infectious disease transmitted through the air and caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Dr. Sokoya also noted that TB is one of the devastating diseases “that have impact on our health globally, not only in Lagos but the entire country at large.”
According to Dr. Joseph Edor, Senior Programme Officer II TB/RCCE, USAID Breakthrough Action-Nigeria, the symptoms of TB are night sweats, coughing for more than two weeks, weight loss, fever, and Hemoptysis (blood in cough).
Dr. Edor also explained that the risk factors for TB are germs and spread easily in overcrowded area, stressing that TB is often common in areas with high population density.
He encouraged people to go for testing and chest X-rays in any of the public health facilities across the state, to reduce the spread of the airborne disease.
Dr. Babajide Kadiri, the Lagos State Team Lead, USAID IHVN TB LON 3 Project, who disclosed that children can also contract TB, said TB disease in children under 15 years of age is a public health problem of social significance because it represents a recent transmission from an infectious adult.
