The World Health Organization, WHO, has said that about 245,000 Nigerians die from Tuberculosis, and about 590,000 new cases occur annually.
The organization, also said that Nigeria ranks first in Africa and sixth amongst countries with the highest number of the disease globally.
In a statement to mark this year’s World Tuberculosis day, the organization said: “Each year, we commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. Each day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 66 million lives since the year 2000.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight to end TB. For the first time in over a decade, TB deaths increased in 2020.
The theme of World TB Day 2022 – ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives.’
