• 10-15% are children, says Foundation
• ‘State records 95% treatment success rate in 2022’
No fewer than 26,371 cases of Tuberculosis (TB) were diagnosed and notified in Kano State in 2022 by Kano State TB and Leprosy Control Programme (KNS-TBLCP), out of 31,232 projected target.
Out of the number, between 10 and 15 per cent are children. Senior Programme Manager and Cluster Lead, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation Nigeria, Mamman Bajehson, who disclosed this in a chat with The Guardian, yesterday, said that the state in 2022 recorded a treatment success rate of 95 per cent.
Bajehson said that the state had 1,346, TB treatment sites, with 23 GeneXpert diagnostic sites, six Truenat diagnostic platforms, one drug resistant treatment centre, four TB LAMP diagnostic platforms and four wellness on Keke mobile units spread across the 44 councils of the state.
He said: “The burden in Kano is extrapolated by using the national incidence rate and projected state population of about 38,000. The people appreciate the free TB diagnostic and treatment services, uptake is high with good patient retention.”
According to him, there is also need to improve on childhood TB, which is slightly below the projected benchmark.
“This is being addressed through a concerted effort from the state, partners and multi-sectoral collaboration to intentional target pediatric age group congregate settings, hitherto, devoid of TB screening services e.g. schools, nutrition and welfare centres,” he stated.
He said that to end TB in Nigeria, there is need to implement all elements of the #EndTB strategy, address unmet funding gap, bring interventions to scale across board and collaborate with other partners and sectors.
“The KNSMOH has a dedicated Twitter handle, Facebook were the KNSTBLCP post TB centric messages to their followers, the KNSTBLCP also partners with BA-N (USAID partner) for demand creation activities like radio shows on popular stations, use of a national toll free TB help line (3340) and motorised campaigns across communities,” he added.
