Nollywood actor, Tonto Dikeh, has been unveiled as ‘Tuberculosis Ambassador.
The unveiling which was done in Abuja, is part of the “Spread the Tuberculosis Story project” which seeks to stem the rising cases of the disease in the country, says the president of Godspower Oshodin Global Foundation, Godspower Oshodin.
He says the campaign which aims to launch an offensive fight against Tuberculosis is done in collaboration with ‘The Help from the South Foundation’ and the ‘Tonto Dikeh Foundation’.
He lamented that the Federal Ministry of Health, predictions that there will be four million cases in Nigeria by 2020; that 25 percent of the four million cases will also have HIV infection and 200,000 of the cases will have Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) cases is a cause for worry.
He said “It is even more frightening to know that eight, out of every 10 Nigerians have Tuberculosis, without realising it”.
On her part, Tonto Dikeh said the campaign will take two phases one of which is filming a documentary titled ‘Spread the tuberculosis story’ in a such a way that the average viewer can connect with the message. While the second phase will be a nationwide awareness targeting impoverished areas in the six geo-political zones.
She added that she will use her “celebrity status to influence this campaign”.
Also, the Coordinator National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), Dr. Adebola Lawanson said the disease which mostly affect the lungs is still being largely under reported in the country.
Lawanso who was by represented by the Deputy Director and Head of Advocacy, Communications and Social Mobilisation, Itohowo Uko said out of the 100 percent of those infected in the country, only 24 percent were reported and known leaving the remaining 76 percent unknown among the population.
