By Tobi Adebayo
Over 162,000 people die of tuberculosis annually in Nigeria, The Nigerian Thoracic Society (NTS) has revealed.
NTS President, Professor Prince Ele, made the revelation in a statement on Wednesday as part of activities marking this year’s world Tuberculosis day.
“The theme of World TB Day 2021, “The Clock is ticking” is quite apt considering the current global health and economic challenges. TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer.
“Each year, about 162,000 people lose their lives to TB in Nigeria and close to 430,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease in the country. Global efforts to combat TB have saved millions of lives in Nigeria and globally since the year 2000.
“We in the Nigerian Thoracic Society are not oblivious of the current challenges our health authorities are contending with due to covid-19.
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“We implore the health authorities to do the needful in the adequate and equitable coverage of the covid-19 vaccination program and want to remind them that TB is still the number one infectious killer disease made worse by the advent and rise in the incidence and prevalence of MDRTB across the world and as such it should continue to receive all the needed attention and the top priority it deserves.
“While we encourage full participation of our members in all local awareness campaigns we emphasise the need to constantly observe all COVID-19 preventive protocols,” the statement read in part.
