Combating TB-related diseases to boost citizens’ health

Such inhalation stems from release of the bacteria into the air through coughing, sneezing, talking, spitting and even singing, among others. The germs can float in the air for several hours depending on the environment. Medical experts say that you do not contact TB by just shaking hands or touching the clothes of a sufferer, […]

Such inhalation stems from release of the bacteria into the air through coughing, sneezing, talking, spitting and even singing, among others. The germs can float in the air for several hours depending on the environment.

Medical experts say that you do not contact TB by just shaking hands or touching the clothes of a sufferer, and that the disease results in severe inflammation of the lungs, thus impairing pulmonary functions. The inflammation could also spread to other organs of the body.

Notwithstanding its debilitating effect, medics say that the disease is preventable and curable, as medical science has attained great strides in this direction.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that TB treatment continues to be a major problem the world over, just as a person’s immunity level largely determines his or her susceptibility to the disease.

More worrisome, officials say, is the fact that improper diagnosis and treatment, poor adherence to medication, the emergence of multi-resistant strains of TB, in addition to the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, has compounded its prevalence.

Prof. Niyi Awofeso, a public health expert, groups TB along with malaria and HIV/AIDS as major public health challenges, which undermine development in the poor countries of the world.

The World TB Day is marked every March 24, partly to commemorate the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, by Dr. Robert Koch in 1882, and also to sensitize the citizens on the disease.

“The World TB Day provides an opportunity to communicate TB-related problems,” says the Abuja office of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in a statement.

Health analysts advise that as nations of the world mark this year’s edition, governments, agencies and stakeholders must poll resources to eliminate TB.

“It is pertinent for all concerned to think of how to join resources to ensure that TB is eliminated from Nigeria, Africa and the world,” says Mrs Sherifat Abari, the former Coordinator, Communicable and Non-Communicable Disease in the Federal Ministry of Health.

The theme of this year’s celebration is “TB Elimination: Together We Can!’’.

Concerns over the scourge of TB have been expressed in many quarters in recent times.

At the 18th Africa Regional Conference of the International Union Against TB and Lung Diseases, which held recently in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan tasked African leaders to intensify efforts at eradicating the disease.

He urged them to also address the critical poverty level in their countries, while ensuring accelerated progress in achieving the MDGs.

“A drug-resistant epidemic of TB is a serious threat to all our efforts. People on our continent must be provided with the information, diagnostic facilities and treatment for MDR-TB’’, Jonathan said, even as he called for a unified national plan of action.

The summit’s theme was – “TB/HIV and Other Lung Diseases: Challenges to the Attainment of MDGs in Africa”.

The union’s President (Africa Region), Dr Mansur Kabi said that the continent had indeed made progress in the control of TB and related lung diseases despite challenges.

He said that participants at the summit were expected to critically review the progress made, while sharing experiences on best practices at controlling the diseases.

“The emergence of drug-resistant TB (MDR/XDR) in combination with the high prevalence of HIV makes it even more imperative for us, as a region, to discuss new initiatives and share innovative ideas that can facilitate our collective efforts towards controlling these diseases, so as to reach the MDGs,” he said.

Nigeria’s Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, reiterated the need for the review of strategies to fight TB, with a view to attaining the MDGs.

He disclosed that an estimated one million cases were reported annually in the African region, stressing that such prevalence posed a serious challenge to the continent’s leaders.

All said and done, the conference provided for scientific and community sessions, which addressed problems and pragmatic solutions to the major issues related to the disease.

Elsewhere at a related forum, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Hajiya Amina Az-Zubair, disclosed measures taken by the Office of the MDGs to combat the diseases in Nigeria.

She told the West Africa Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists in Abuja, that her office had procured about 21.7 million doses of anti-malaria drugs for use in some states.

“We have purchased and distributed long-lasting insecticide treated nets, established HIV/Malaria kit factory at SHEDA and upgraded the TB Centres in Zaria, Sokoto and Abakaliki, in a collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health,” she said.

She identified challenges before her office as including weak health systems at the three tiers of government, ineffective and inefficient management of public health resources, epileptic power supply and lack of ownership of health facilities, especially at local levels.

(NANFeatures)