Tuberculosis kills 18 Nigerians every hour – WHO report

National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Director in the Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs Itohowo Uko, said Tuberculosis kills 18 Nigerians every hour.

According to her, the statistic was based on World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Global report 2020.

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She also said that 150,000 Nigerians were killed by Tuberculosis across the country in the year 2019.

Speaking at a media engagement with health reporters from seven states via Zoom, Mrs Uko said 138,573 TB cases have been identified in Nigeria in 2020 with the patients placed on treatment.

She said Nigeria is ranked 1st in Africa in terms of countries with TB burdens and 6th globally.

“Most Nigerians are not aware of TB and so we believed no Nigerian should die of TB when the treatment and diagnosis are free in the government health facility.

“So, we brought media practitioners to help educate the general public about TB,” she said.

She said their aim is to free Nigeria from TB, saying there were a lot of Nigerians with TB yet to be identified.

According to her, people with TB should not be stigmatized but be encouraged to go for testing.

She said the aim of the training is to expand the pool of media report personnel on reporting TB in the country as well as improve the knowledge of media personnel on TB.

She said that the training will equally build the capacity of the participants and for them to know and understand the burden of TB in Nigeria.