In Layi, tuberculosis sufferers breathe again

Early this week a multimillion dollar facility located in Sayi village near Zaria, was opened for the treatment of and detection of TB in Nigeria. The facility has clinics, laboratories, training classrooms, conference hall, a library and hostels ,all designed to meet the standard of infection control in the facility. The center also has backup […]

Early this week a multimillion dollar facility located in Sayi village near Zaria, was opened for the treatment of and detection of TB in Nigeria. The facility has clinics, laboratories, training classrooms, conference hall, a library and hostels ,all designed to meet the standard of infection control in the facility. The center also has backup generators, a 24 hour wireless internet facility, and a website to meet the challenges of international courses. It was established by the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) of the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine in Baltimore Maryland, and the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria.This US-Nigeria partnership was first established in 2004 through funding from the CDC, and the US Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). In Sayi  village the pre-colonial missionary Leprosy colony known as  ‘Asibitin Layi’ , but properly known as the National TB/Leprosy Training  Center(NTBLTC), headed by Dr Olusegun Obasanya,its provost , is being transformed to offer state-of–the–art integrated treatment ,care and support services to people infected with TB and HIV,so indicates ACTIONNEWS,a newsletter of the  Institute for Human Virology,  Abuja. This recently opened Modular Bio safety Level Three laboratory (BSL-3) is the first of its kind in Africa. Dr. Obasanya indicates that the IHVN came to Layi Centre at a time it was being overwhelmed by patients. “We were seeing a lot of cases of HIV when we had no test kits, we were sending them to do the tests outside and they kept coming back with positive results.” He adds “simple procedures, guidelines and skills were not available because you must have skills and knowledge in order to make a meaningful intervention. These were the problems we had. It was at this point that the IHVN came in. And it has maintained constant presence here with the support of the CDC and NIH.”

At the event which held penultimate Monday, joyful  Hausa   musicians, armed with the ever musical Kuntuku  Lalaje and Kwarya,(musical instruments),   repeatedly sang  in loud voices     ‘Layi is becoming like England’, a dramatic  reference to the great improvements in the hospital, symbolized by the new laboratory inspected that morning  by Thomas Frieden, the  highly experienced Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  US, as well as Dr Patrick Dakum,the Chief of Party of IHV, Nigeria, Dr Kevin DeCock,the incoming CDC Director for Global Health, and the Country Director, Dr  Nancy Knight,and Dr Alash’le Abimuku, Co-Principal Investigator of PEPFAR  project,   who conducted the guests round the laboratory in her capacity as the articulate mind  behind the  project.  There are signs that a new lease of life has dawned for Leprosy patients in the country. For over a year now at the Zaria TB center, IHVN in conjunction with Centers for Disesase Control (CDC), has contributed to the improvement of the quality of lives of people with TB, HIV and those co infected through the provision of free ARV medications.

Patients at the TB center in Layi speak on their experiences as published by ACTIONNews. Henry initially went to the center in 2005 because of TB, but was later diagnosed as being HIV+. His words ’I was unconscious for three days when I came here. A friend told me before my situation got bad that treatment for my ailment was available in this hospital. After a few months I started ARV medication, which was not easy initially, because I was reacting to the drug. But as time went on,  I stabilised’. Ibrahim, 44, another beneficiary of the center, says’ I had already given up because of TB.

Today, cough, tomorrow another, until I was referred to this place from a private hospital in Zaria. The first night here was really tough, but I started to get better every subsequent day’, he adds. Patience came to the hospital in a hopeless condition.  ‘I can’t remember how I came here because I was very sick, and had to be wheeled to this place. My situation was very serious because I could not stand nor sit down. I was so weak. I needed help’.

Speaking  at the event Dr Mansur Kabir, National TB and Leprosy Control Programme Coordinator, says ‘About 25 years ago this place was a small village.Today, it is an international center’. Dr Thomas Freiden adds: ‘This facility is very important to laboratory work, not only in Nigeria, and there are very attractive facilities here. The challenge here is that these facilities are used to support the programme, so that people live longer lives’. He further explained ‘Nigeria has a large burden of both Tuberculosis and HIV patients.

This facility is important to help train workers on how to diagnose and cure both diseases, and also to extend the laboratory capacity of the country, so that diagnosis is accurate and available in remote areas’. Dr Alash’le Abimuku speaks on the challenges facing the laboratory project.Her words ‘One of the challenges has been that of human resources, but a lot is being done about that already. The other challenge here is that of sustainability, because we can’t have the infrastructure and not be able to manage it. But with the National Programme Coordinator, and the MDGs itself being involved in this project,I am sure that this is a challenge that is not insurmountable’.

 The new BSL-3 Laboratory, built by Germ-free, a US based facility, is specially made with filters to withstand the harsh dry and dusty winds in Zaria, during the harmattan season. It will be able to provide an immediate local response at any time, thus containing an emergent threat before it spreads to other parts of the country.

As a fallout of the opening of the new laboratory, Nigeria and neighbouring countries can provide an accurate diagnosis of TB using simple, improved microscopy techniques.Also a network has been established to report TB results from various clinics across the nation, and to send samples of TB tissue to the new state-of-the-art BSL-3 laboratory in Zaria, which has international clearance to research such a deadly disease.

Last Monday, Nuhu Barau and his group of music makers had every reason to chant ‘Layi is just like England’.

The trip to Zaria was sponsored by the Institute for Human Virology (IHVN).