To rally funding to implement the prevention and cure of tuberculosis (TB), President Muhammadu Buhari has joined other Heads of State and Government attending the ongoing and first-ever UN High-level meeting on TB to mobilise $13 billion a year by 2022 to implement TB prevention and cure, and $2 billion for research.

The leaders also committed to take firm action against drug-resistant forms of the disease, build accountability, and to prioritise human rights issues such as the stigma that still prevails around TB in many parts of the world.

The world leaders agreed to implement urgent actions towards ensuring that 40 million people with TB receive the care they need by the end of 2022. They also agreed to provide 30 million people with preventive treatment to protect them from developing TB.

President Buhari asserted that Nigeria’s national TB eradication strategy had, over the years, been structured to provide tailored quality services in terms of diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

“Since assuming office in May 2015, we consistently increased budget appropriation for the health sector,” he said, adding that with “a view to ensuring that we promote the well-being of our people through access to qualitative health care services. We are investing in research and development in our various public and specialised institutions.”

An estimated three Nigerians die of tuberculosis every 10 minutes, accumulating to 18 every hour and 432 every day.  Every hour, 47 Nigerians develop active TB, seven of whom are children. Despite progress made in the last two decades, the incidence of TB is not declining fast enough to end the disease as envisaged under the Sustainable Development Goals 2.

According to the Stop TB Partnership, “although TB is curable and preventable all people developing TB, including drug-resistant TB, needs to be diagnosed and treated, and those at highest risk of developing TB (contacts of patients, people living with HIV, etc.) need to receive preventive therapy. Currently, only about 60% of TB and about 25% of drug-resistant TB are notified as receiving treatment; the remaining are the millions of people who are ‘missing’ from care. Coverage levels are lower for children, and preventive therapy coverage is minimal.”

To address the burden in the country, President Buhari stated that the National Action Plan on TB Eradication 2015-2020,  is being pursued with renewed vigour, and structured on five priorities: detection of TB in adults and children; improving treatment in specific geographic areas that are under-performing; integrating TB and HIV services; building capacity for diagnosing and treating drug resistant TB; and creating strong and sustainable systems to support these achievements.

The world leaders acknowledged that the current rate of progress on TB was endangering prospects of meeting global targets to end TB. The 2017 Global Report on TB shows that TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious disease as it killed 1.6 million people in 2017, including 300,000 people with HIV. In the same year, 10 million people fell ill with TB.

“Today is a landmark in the long war on TB,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO). “These are bold promises – to keep them partnership is vital. WHO is committed to working with every country, every partner and every community to get the job done.”

“The political declaration proposed for this meeting sets a roadmap for accelerated action to end TB in line with the vision and targets for 2030,” said Ms Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly. “We have before us the opportunity for a clear win – a chance to save the lives of millions, to preserve billions in resources, to demonstrate the success of the Sustainable Development Goals, and to reaffirm the utility, efficacy and necessity of multilateralism and the UN System. Let us not miss this opportunity.”

The political declaration in the hallowed chambers of the United Nations in New York, was the emergence of a new resolve and commitment of leaders across the world to stop the deaths and infirmities from TB across the world.

By Akin Jimoh, New York City

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 in New York restated Nigeria’s commitment to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) as soon as possible.

Buhari made the pledge while addressing a high-level meeting on the theme, “United Against Tuberculosis: Global Action Against Global Threat” on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

He said: “Let me pledge Nigeria’s continued commitment to the eradication of TB in Nigeria. We remain resolute in efforts to address institutional and societal challenges, through the enhancement of strong multi-sectoral mechanisms.

“Let me therefore seize this opportunity to call on the global community to demonstrate renewed commitment to today’s declaration”.

According to him, Nigeria welcomes the adoption of the Political Declaration, especially its relevant provisions which commit to providing diagnosis and treatment to 40 million people, including 3.5 million children between 2018 and 2022.

“The Declaration should also serve as a template for preventing TB for those most-at-risk, through rapid scale up of access to testing the infection, especially for the high-burdened countries,” he said.

The Nigerian leader expressed confidence “that other commitments made under this important document, including those on development of new vaccines, drugs and community-based health services, will further guarantee success in our collective fight against the disease”.

Buhari noted that Nigeria’s national TB eradication strategy had long been structured to provide tailored quality services in terms of diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

He added that “since assuming office in May 2015, we consistently increased budget appropriation for the health sector”.

He stressed that the budgetary increment was with “a view to ensuring that we promote the well-being of our people through access to qualitative health care services.

“We are investing in research and development in our various public and specialised institutions.”

The president said the National Action Plan on TB Eradication 2015-2020, which is being pursued with renewed vigour, is structured on five priorities.

These are: detection of TB in adults and children; improving treatment in specific geographic areas that are under-performing; integrating TB and HIV services; building capacity for diagnosing and treating drug resistant TB; and creating strong and sustainable systems to support these achievements.

Buhari stressed that private sector engagement for TB was also being stridently pursued as a robust Public-Private Mix.

According to him, the national “strategic plan is geared towards meeting the overall aims of providing Nigerians with universal access to high quality, patient-centred prevention, as well as diagnosis and treatment services for Tuberculosis, TB/HIV and drug-resistance TB by 2020″.

Buhari said his administration was “exploring the possibility of establishing a financial institution dedicated to providing financial lifelines for free, comprehensive and qualitative medical treatments”.

He said this was aimed at mitigating the “financial burden on victims and to also ensure that we continue to save lives and create favourable conditions for economic and social development.”

The Nigerian leader expressed delight that the landmark event was taking place “at a period when the pain of the disease, and its dire consequences on the health and socio-economic development of many developing countries, is on the rise.”

He welcomed the adoption of what he termed “the all-important Political Declaration” on: “United to End Tuberculosis: An Urgent Global Response to a Global Epidemic,” saying this is the first global forum with dedicated focus on worldwide tuberculosis pandemic.

Buhari acknowledged that “TB has become a global challenge that requires consistent and an all-inclusive global strategy based on research and discovery of new drugs”.

The president stressed that “such efforts must also include mobilisation of funds and global partnership of relevant stakeholders working together to frontally address the scourge”.

He noted that the task before world leaders “is to initiate a global response towards eradicating the disease especially in developing countries, where counter-measures are sometimes beyond the capacity of such nations.”

He also emphasised the “need to develop new strategies that connect national responses with international finance and technical partnership to stop the ravaging disease.”

By Prudence Arobani