Did you know that tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious disease? Yet,TB still remains a major public health problem Nigeria, especially as it mostly affects the poorest and most vulnerable people.
In fact, Nigeria has the 2nd largest burden of TB in Africa and is among the 10 countries that accounted for 76% of missing TB cases globally (WHO Global TB Report 2017) and high proportion of the undetected missing TB cases in Nigeria are in private health facilities.
How does the private sector in Nigeria help control the spread of tuberculosis (TB)?
The Federal Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, and Stop TB Partnership Nigeria in collaboration with the Tuberculosis Control Programme in Lagos State sought to answer this question at their recent event.
Some salient facts shared during the event included:
- Every hour, 47 Nigerians develop TB, 7 of which are children
- Every hour, 18 Nigerians die from TB, though it is preventable and curable
- There are about 300,000 cases of TB that remain undiagnosed in Nigeria and in Lagos, 2 of every 3 TB cases are missed
- Only 14% of private sector health facilities can manage TB patients
- 63% of all TB cases are people in their productive years of life: ages 15-44
Click here to learn more about tuberculosis and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.
