A partnership between the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) and medical players in the private sector, including patent medicine vendors in communities, has led to the detection of 71,000 tuberculosis (TB) patients in two years.
The Chief Executive Officer (CFO) of IHVN, Dr Patrick Dakum, disclosed this yesterday during the annual conference of the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists (ANHEJ) in Auta Balefi, Nasarawa State.
Dr Dakum said the partnership included working with community pharmacies, private laboratories and faith-based organisations to screen and refer TB patients for treatment in hospitals in 21 states.
Low TB case detection remains a major challenge in the TB control effort in Nigeria; with the country only detecting 27 per cent of the estimated incidents of TB.
Nigeria ranks sixth among 30 TB high burden countries in the world and has the highest burden in Africa.
Dr Dakum, who said various interventions had impeded the spread of many diseases of public health concern in Nigeria, added that the institute had been playing a part in improving health interventions to address infectious and non-infectious diseases since 2004.
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