Air Force chief lauds 45 NAF Hospital over fight against scourge

AS the world marked tuberculosis (TB) day Monday, global efforts are intensifying to provide drugs every year to over three million undiagnosed, untreated or undocumented people in the fight against the disease.

A body, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said in a statement that three million among the nine million people that get sick with TB do not get the needed care.

Many countries around the world are now strengthening their TB strategic plans and setting new targets to drive down the number of deaths and cases of TB, while identifying priorities, best use of domestic resources and funding gaps for its control.

The Global Fund has a new funding model that seeks to support countries in filling those gaps by focusing on the needs of the most vulnerable people in settings with high rates of TB. Inclusive country dialogue and investing for impact are fundamental to the new funding model, and to finding the missed three million people.

Executive Director of the Fund, Mark Dybul, stressed during a visit to South Africa as part of the World Tuberculosis Day how the body and its partners were to harmonize the region’s response to tuberculosis infection among the mining community.

Dybul noted that the partnership had a focus on reducing the burden of TB among a population that accounts for about 30 per cent of all infections in Southern Africa.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, has lauded the 45 NAF Hospital in Makurdi, Benue State, for its fight against the deadly TB scourge.

Amosu gave the commendation yesterday in Makurdi at a seminar organized by the hospital to commemorate tuberculosis day, stating that the theme of this year’s celebration, “Stop TB in My Lifetime,” was apt.

Represented at the event by the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Tactical Air Command (TAC), Air Vice Marshal Umar Omeiza, Amosu noted: “If we can prevent TB from easily infecting us, we cannot die of HIV infection.”

In his welcome remarks, the Commander, 45 Nigerian Air Force Hospital, Air Commodore B.B. Okunola, regretted that the world was winning the war against TB until its dramatic resurgence with the advent of HIV.

He stressed that today, TB is the second leading infectious cause of death after HIV, and that though its treatment is available, the world was experiencing another ugly trend with the emergence of multiple-drug-resistance TB, which does not accept common anti-tuberculosis drugs.

Also, the Kano State Ministry of Health disclosed that government specialized centres treated 6,000 carriers free of charge in 2013 alone.

Addressing newsmen yesterday, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf, said that 230 health facilities operate TB treatment as part of efforts to improve access to free TB services in Kano. He added that government has deployed volunteers to sensitize people on the need to report suspected cases to the nearest centre.