Mobil set to build TB lab at UNICAL

He made the announcement when the Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences in the College of Medical Sciences, University of Calabar held her first lecture series on the theme: “Advances in Tuberculosis and Control; The way forward for Nigeria” held at the new Senate Chamber of the institution.
In her lecture, the immediate past Dean of Allied Medical Sciences and the distinguished lecturer, Prof Anne  Ebri Asuquo said she chose the topic because of the passion she has for the disease and the  people it affects.
Prof. Anne Asuquo said, tuberculosis (TB) affects the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world who are often voiceless and need to be advocated for which “March” 24 of every year has been declared world TB Day.
She disclosed that TB is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) which includes M.Bovis, M.africanuum, M. Pinnipedii, M. Microfi, M. Coprea, M. Canettii and that the disease spreads from person to person through airborne particles by inhaling droplet nuclei that contain the organism from an infected person.
The don identified symptoms of TB as prolonged cough, chest pain, hemoptysis, fever and chills, fatigue, loss of appetite and weight loss and can be transmitted when an infectious person coughs, laughs, sneeze, speaks or talksconsistently with uninfected person which is peculiar to pulmonary TB.
She asserted that tuberculosis remains a major health problem in Nigeria which was declared a National Emergency in 2006 and currently, Nigeria ranks 11th among the 22 high burdened countries globally attributing it to the generally poor awareness of the disease in Nigeria.
Prof. Anne Asuquo said the good news is that, there is a global downward trend because TB is preventable and curable adding that 2015 Millennium Development Goals has been set for TB to reduce prevalence and death rate by 50% and by 2050 to eliminate TB as a public health problem by 1/1000,000 population.
She said that the way forward for Nigeria for TB effective control  include access to laboratory services at every level, management and support of laboratories that provide reliable and consistent decentralized services as well as training of staff that would produce quality result, high quality treatment of susceptible TB to prevent MDRTB.
The Academic Don also said that expansion of Rapid testing and detecting of MDR TB and the immediate access to quality care, infection control should be provided and that political commitment and adequate funding for current intervention should be increased.