The Federal Government has disclosed that it will ensure 100 per cent of health facilities in Nigeria with tuberculosis (TB) services are in line with the Universal Health Coverage(UHC) target.
The Minister of State for Health, Joseph Ekumankama, said this in his remarks at the Debriefing on the Findings from the mid-term Review of the Tuberculosis National Strategic Plan 2021 to 2025
Ekumankama explained some areas where the government need to improve as it implements the National Strategic Plan(NSP), including Bridging the gap in TB financing by increasing Domestic funding for TB control, Accelerating efforts towards finding and treating the remaining missing TB cases”.
Speaking further, Ekumankama also said Fostering collaboration with other Ministries, Departments and Agencies; Ensuring 100% coverage of health facilities in Nigeria with TB services in line with the UHC target, Strengthening private sector and community engagements and Scaling up TB preventive therapy will be an area of improvement while implementing plans and programme to eliminate tuberculosis in Nigeria.
Ekumankama also acknowledged the expert’s effort in reviewing the National Tuberculosis Programme plans for 2021-2025.
The programme aims to accelerate the effort in ending and controlling tuberculosis and HIV in Nigeria and to ensure a comprehensive sensitization centre committed to both services to end Tuberculosis stigmatization.
“The Ministry of Health requested the support of USAID and other donors to conduct the mid-team National Tuberculosis strategic review from January 12th 2023, in 6 geopolitical Zone.
“The review allocated by international consultants led by WHO AFRO experts drawn across different parts of the world to review the nature of Tuberculosis, leprosy, and HIV programs”.
Similarly, the Director USAID Nigeria on Tuberculosis and HIV, De. Rachel Goldstein said that US Government is committed to providing technical support and underground resources to ensure that all the necessary resources are coming to Nigeria. Government contributions and commitment is the best optimised for National Tuberculosis.
She encouraged the Federal government to remain focused and committed to the fight against TB in our community, adding that the challenge to end Tuberculosis is in the government’s hands through a partnership
“In a way the country has adopted the new dynamic tools and treatment, which again is perfect that brings us together to make this possible, to show other countries that this is possible”.
Goldstein also added that she is excited to see what Nigeria has seen in its case finding,
“At this critical junction that the National Tuberculosis Program is about to write the programme for the next 3 years, we must come together to make the available resources sufficient and work with incredible results as Nigeria is been looked down upon by the people”.
The Director of Public Health, Dr Morenike Alex- Okoh in her welcome address, the programme has made tremendous progress in the last few years with TB notification.
Alex-Koh, however, said despite the progress, TB remains a major public health problem in Nigeria, the burden of which is further fuelled by the huge number of undetected TB cases which serves as a pool of reservoir for the continuous transmission of the disease in our communities.
She said the mid-term review is important to the Federal Ministry of Health as it will set the precedent for the National Tuberculosis Programme to achieve its set target at the End-Term of this NSP.
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