About 15000 cases of the tuberculosis disease have been confirmed among residents in Lagos State, News About Nigeria reports.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, disclosed this at the investiture of Champions and Ambassadors of the Lagos Steering Committee for TB, led by Lagos governor’s wife, Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday.
He noted that the confirmed cases are part of the 32,000 cases revealed by statistics in Lagos State.
According to the statistics, 32,000 Lagosians are living with the disease, leaving 17,000 undetected.
He urged the people to be careful, as there are lots of others living with active TB that is yet to be confirmed.
He stated, “According to the statistics that we get from the Federal Government, there should be 32,000 Lagosians with tuberculosis that we need to diagnose. We’ve only been able to diagnose about 15,000 this year if we add up all our numbers.
“Ladies, that means that there are 17,000 people in Lagos right now, walking around and living with tuberculosis that have not been diagnosed. That’s the first point I want you to understand; that there are people living with us in the community who have active TB that we have not diagnosed.”
Recall that in March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that Nigeria has the highest TB burden in Africa.
It stated that with 268 people losing their lives every day, TB cases are underreported, increasing the high risk of transmission. It is estimated that one missed case can transmit TB to 15 people in a year.
“The gap in case detection is mostly among children, due to some health workers at facility and community level not sufficiently skilled to detect childhood TB, as well as a lack of awareness among families and communities. TB services are also not fully integrated into routine children’s health services, such as nutrition and immunisation programmes,” it noted.
