Tuberculosis trouble

August 1, 2025 by Editorial

• More funds required to curb the disease

Nigeria’s tuberculosis (TB) burden is concerning. Associate Professor of Medicine, Consultant Pulmonologist and Chest Physician, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Tsavyange Peter Mbaave, further drew attention to the troubling reality in a recent interview published in “The Sun.” He said: “There are 22 countries in the world that are referred to or classified as high burden countries. Nigeria ranks number six on that list, accounting for almost 4.6 percent of the worldwide or global tuberculosis burden.”

Indeed, on this matter, the country ranks first in Africa, according to KNCV Nigeria, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the fight against TB and other diseases in the country.

Mbaave added: “As of 2024, 400 new cases of tuberculosis were diagnosed in Nigeria just as 71,000 people died from TB. That is about an average of 268 deaths daily from tuberculosis… Averagely, for every 100,000 persons, we have about 219 cases of tuberculosis. That is the average or the burden of tuberculosis in Nigeria as it is currently.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that over 361,000 TB cases were reported in Nigeria in 2023, nine percent of these in children. Overall, this marked a 26 percent increase in the number of cases compared with 2022.

An air-borne infectious disease, TB is caused by a germ. Common symptoms include a persistent cough, coughing up blood or sputum, chest pain, fever, fatigue, night sweats, and unexplained weight loss.

However, it is both preventable and treatable. It can affect anybody, but it is “a disease mainly of the poor in developing or underdeveloped countries in Africa, Asia and South America,” the medical expert noted. People with “compromised immune system” are particularly vulnerable as well as “people congregating in settings.”

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He identified other factors responsible for the country’s TB burden, notably “poor healthcare facilities and low coverage,” lamenting “the lack of proper healthcare infrastructure and a healthcare system that can take care of cases of tuberculosis, detect and treat appropriately.” 

 This observation underscores the issue of long-standing insufficient government funding in the country’s health sector. For instance, KNCV Nigeria said only 31 percent of the $373 million needed for TB control in Nigeria in 2020 was available to all the implementers of TB control activities in the country – seven percent domestic, mainly for personnel, and 24 percent donor funds. This left a funding gap of 69 percent.

Lamentably, most of the work done on tuberculosis in Nigeria is said to be sponsored by donor agencies. Dependence on donor agencies to fight TB in the country is a major criticism, which should be addressed by the authorities. “The country needs to close the funding gaps in healthcare, which lead to drugs being out of stock, lack of diagnostic equipment, reagents, etc.,” Mbaave said.

Significantly, to intensify TB case-finding in the country, the National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme, and its collaborators, including WHO, were reported to have been involved in a TB drive across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory. Also, in 2023 and early 2024, WHO, with support from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, trained 242 health workers to improve TB case detection, reporting and treatment of patients across five states.

Ending TB requires a multi-pronged approach, including greater funding for the country’s healthcare system. Prevention can be achieved through intensified public awareness and enlightenment campaigns, while effective case-finding and treatment require trained personnel and adequate facilities.

It is disappointing that Nigeria has consistently failed to meet the standard of the Abuja Declaration. This is ironic, considering that the conference took place in the country.  In April 2001, heads of state of African Union countries met in Abuja and pledged to set a target of allocating at least 15 percent of their annual budget to improve the health sector in their respective countries.

Given the scale of the country’s tuberculosis burden and other public health challenges, the Federal Government needs to substantially improve health funding.