Amaechi Okonkwo | Port Harcourt
A group of professionals, Breakthrough Action, Nigeria has called on the three tiers of government to increase financial investments in the health sector in order to win the fight against tuberculosis in Rivers State, in particular and Nigeria in general.
Senior Programme Officer II, Breakthrough Action, Nigeria, Dr. Edor Joseph Paul, made the call while speaking at a one-day training on tuberculosis (TB) and tuberculosis related-reporting for journalists, organised by the Rivers State Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Breakthrough Action for Social and Behaviour Change in Port Harcourt.
Paul disclosed that recent statistics indicates that the rate of tuberculosis infection in Nigeria has reduced, saying that a total of 6,361 persons were diagnosed of the ailment in Rivers State in December 2022.
He noted that the essence of the training was to bring media personnel in Rivers State together to understand the challenge of TB in the state which he said included poor funding and lack of access to some communities and to collectively have a conversation on how to improve awareness around TB generally.
He stressed the need for improved awareness and sensitisation of the public on TB disease.
“Basically, if you look at the Rivers State statistics on tuberculosis presented today, you will find out that the state made significant improvement in discovery of more tuberculosis cases from over 2,000 cases to over 6,000 cases over the last one year.
“We also know that media coverage for TB activities is also a challenge because we need more funding to be able to put more jingles out regularly. We also need more funding for media persons to be able to collect human angle stories that present the real challenge that people face in the communities and present to everyone across the state.
“Maybe, here in Rivers State we think that the reach of the media activity needs to improve and at this level, a lot of efforts are being done but more is needed for everyone in the villages to get these messages,” Paul said.
Focal Person, Rivers State TB Unit and Representatives of Advocacy Community and Social Mobilisation, Tina Oghani, Senior Programmes Manager of KNC, Dr. Nera Khadiri-Ene and Mrs Nkoyo Umoh, in their separate presentations, said the fight to eradicate tuberculosis must not be left to health workers alone, saying that all hands must be on deck to achieve the goal.
They disclosed that all government/public and some private facilities (medical centres, including chemists) in the state had been engaged for free testing and treatment of tuberculosis.
They advised that anybody with identified symptoms of tuberculosis such as sustained cough for two weeks or more, excessive sweat at night, chest pains, fever, loss of weight, among others, to visit the nearest facility for a test to establish whether the case is a TB infection and warned against discrimination and stigmatisation of those infected or treated of TB.
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