The federal government has reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating tuberculosis (TB) in the country by 2030, with a renewed focus on expanding healthcare services and community engagement.

This was made known by the minister of state for health and social welfare, Iziaq Adekunle Salako, during the 2025 World TB Day Community Outreach held at Sauka Village, Airport Road, Abuja, on Monday.

The minister highlighted President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring that Nigeria is not left behind in the global TB eradication agenda by 2030.

“The president has directed and has provided a new field environment for the primary healthcare revitalisation, with over 10,000 primary healthcare centres currently being upgraded.

“In addition, we are training over 120,000 health workers at advanced levels to strengthen TB control efforts,” he said.

The first lady, Oluremi Tinubu, also donated N1 billion from her NGO, the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), to strengthen TB control efforts nationwide.

Mrs Tinubu said the disease is a deadly one that requires health emergencies and urgent attention, urging Nigerians to get tested and know their TB status.

She said ending TB by 2030 is a collective responsibility of both government, traditional and religious leaders, legislators, the youth, healthcare workers, private sector organisations, NGOs, and all citizens as stakeholders and international partners.

“The statistics from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 2024 Global TB Report are alarming. In Nigeria, one person dies of TB every seven minutes.

“This means that, in the short time we will spend at this event, many more lives will be lost if we do not act swiftly and decisively.

“The high prevalence of TB in Nigeria is unacceptable, and all hands must be on deck to fight the treatable and curable airborne disease.

“At this juncture, I would like to pledge an additional sum of one billion naira from the RHI towards the fight against tuberculosis in Nigeria,” she said.

The first lady, who is also the Global and National Stop TB Champion, reaffirmed her commitment towards addressing the scourge of TB in the nation.

“I will continue to advocate for increased funding and policy reforms to strengthen TB control efforts and mobilise resources and partnerships to support TB awareness and treatment programmes.

“In addition, I will continue to amplify the voices of TB survivors, fight against stigma and discrimination, and ensure that women, children, and marginalised groups have equal access to TB care,” Mrs Tinubu said.

She commended the government for prioritising and expanding TB testing and treatment centres across the nation with the aim of ensuring that TB treatment remains free and accessible to all.

She said such development would strengthen the community-based healthcare system to reach the most vulnerable populations and enhance funding and partnerships to scale up TB control programmes.

In direct response to the request of the Sapeyi of Garki, Usman Nga Kupi, for a primary health centre in Sauka Community, the first lady assured that it would be done as she had a quick discussion with the minister on the issue.

There was a health talk on the causes, symptoms, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis and testing for the disease at the community outreach.

In his remarks, the WHO representative to Nigeria, Walter Kazadi Mulombo, raised concerns over the risk of losing two decades of progress against TB due to global funding cuts.

“Today we face the existential threat of losing the huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years due to funding cuts, which have started to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB,” he said.

Despite this challenge, Mr Mulombo commended Nigeria’s progress, citing a 300 per cent increase in TB case notifications over the past five years. 

“In a space of five years, Nigeria has scaled up many innovations and interventions that have resulted in the huge numbers of TB cases notified from 138,583 in 2020 during the pandemic year to 418,198 in 2024,“ he said.

He warned that any disruptions to TB services could have fatal consequences for thousands of Nigerians affected by the disease.

However, Queen Ogbuji-Ladipo, acting board chair of the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, stressed that continuous investment, increased public awareness, and stronger community engagement would be crucial in achieving a TB-free Nigeria by 2030.

The theme for 2025 is “Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, and Deliver” with our local slogan “We Fit Do Am.”

(NAN)