The wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari has decried the position of Nigeria as the first in Africa and fourth in the world in terms of tuberculosis infection. She said this is the cause of several untimely deaths and as such the scourge must be tackled.

Mrs Buhari who is an ambassador to the ‘Stop TB campaign’, lamented 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 at the national conference organised by the Stop TB Partnership Nigeria (STBPN) and the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTLCP) noted that out of the over 600,000 cases, only 15 per cent were being detected as about 500,000 cannot access treatment and as a result die prematurely.

“Tuberculosis is the number one killer disease in Africa. Nigeria currently is number one in Africa and fourth in the world. 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/AIDS.”

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. Over 170,000 Nigerians are dying from a preventable and curable disease.”

She said while the government is doing its best to end the scourge, there is need for development partners to assist in stemming the tide.