The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari Tuesday complained about Nigeria's increasing rate of tuberculosis (TB), placing the country in first position first in Africa and fourth in the world in terms of tuberculosis.
She made the position at the national conference on TB organised by the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria (STBPN) and the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTLCP), stating that TB had continued to be the cause of several untimely deaths and as such the scourge must be tackled.
Mrs Buhari who also is an ambassador of the "Stop TB campaign", said that "Nigeria has occupied these positions due to its lowest detection rate when compared to other nations of the world and as such, 600,000 persons are infected by the disease annually and more disturbingly, 60 per cent of the affected are children.
Mrs Buhari, who was represented by the wife of the vice-president, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, said 75% of infected people cannot access treatment and as a result die prematurely.
"Tuberculosis is the number one killer disease in Africa. Nigeria currently is currently number one in Africa and fourth in Africa. Statistics shows approximately 600,000 people become infected with tuberculosis in Nigeria every year. 60 per cent of these new infection affect children. Also, it is the common cause of death in persons living with HIV/children.
"The emergence of multi drug resistance TB is also not acceptable. It is also not acceptable that Nigeria has one of the lowest detection rates in the world".
It is currently detecting only 15 per cent of TB cases. Many Nigerians are dying from a preventable and accurable disease," She maintained.
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