Joseph Onojame, Delta State Commissioner for Health, on Thursday, said that in 2023, the state was estimated to have 13,641 cases of tuberculosis (TB) based on an incidence of 219 people per 100,000 population.
Out of the estimated number, only 6,031 cases were diagnosed with 3,476 being children, he revealed.
According to him, tuberculosis remained a major health challenge globally as 361,000 cases were reported in Nigeria in the year under review of which nine percent of that figure were children.
He made the revelations during the flag-off ceremony of the 2nd Nigeria National Childhood Tuberculosis Testing Week in Asaba.
The flag-off was in line with the National TB Testing Week for Children with the theme ‘Every Child’s Life Matters,’ slated for May 27 to June 2, 2024, across the country.
Onojaeme listed some objectives to be achieved including increased awareness, community engagement, strengthening the health systems, collaboration with partners and data collection and analysis.
He said the state government was committed to improving the detection mechanism, as well as ensuring the treatment of recorded cases to save lives and build a healthier future for Deltans.
Tobore Oborevwori, wife of the state governor, and founder of ‘You Matter Charity Foundation’, also reiterated the state government’s commitment to ensuring that every child receives timely screening, diagnosis and treatment to safeguard the health and wellbeing of children.
“TB remains a formidable challenge, 70% of children continue to remain undiagnosed despite our best efforts, unfortunately in Africa every 3 minutes a child dies of TB. It is our duty therefore to ensure that every child receives timely screening, diagnosis and treatment.
She used the medium to call on all, especially mothers, to be advocates of this cause and make efforts to spread the message far and wide and also make their children available for testing.
She assured Deltans that her husband, would through the M.O.R.E. agenda, bring about affordable health care to their doorsteps and solicited their support to bring it to a reality in the state.
Goodwill messages from Partners such as representatives of the World Health Organization and KNCV Nigeria pledged more support to the State in the fight against the spread of TB.
The Highlight of the event was the demonstration of sample collection by the wife of the Governor and the demonstration of the use of the mobile digital X-ray machine coordinated by the State TB Programme Manager, Dr Francis Bakpa.
