The Unites States Consul-General in Lagos, Nigeria, Mr. Jeff Hawkins, has reiterated the support of the American people, through the United States Agency for International Development, in the control of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.

 

Hawkins said the USAID funds the construction and equipping of TB laboratories in at least seven different locations in Nigeria to the tune of $7.5m.

 

He made this revelation at the official inauguration of TB Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory donated to the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba Lagos, on Monday.

 

Hawkins said that in wider terms, the American government is an important partner to the Nigerian government, as the former supports the latter in different areas of health programmes against HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, with research funding totaling about $500m per annum.

 

The Family Health International, through the USAID-funded TBCare Project, facilitated the establishment of NIMR’s ultra-modern BSL3 reference laboratory.

 

The Family Health International, FHI360, is a non-profit human development organisation dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally-driven solutions.

 

Experts note that tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs.

 

It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.

 

The World Health Organisation declared TB a global emergency in 1993, and it has remained one of the world’s major causes of illness and death so far.

 

Statistics suggests that Nigeria ranks 10th among the 22 high-burden TB countries globally; and that an estimated 210,000 new cases of all forms of TB occurred in the country in 2010 — equivalent to 133 cases per 100,000 population.

 

The Country Director of the FHI 360, Dr. Robert Chiegil, lamented that the burden of TB is compounded by its prevalence among people living with HIV.

 

He revealed that the main goal of the USAID-FHI 360 intervention exercise is to halve the TB prevalence and death rates in Nigeria by 2015.

 

Chiegil said that as a result of external funding, in collaboration with the Nigerian Government, TB death rates had declined from 11 per cent in 2006 to five per cent in 2010. “Consequently, we are assured of achieving the set goal,” he said.

 

At the inauguration, which was performed by the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Ali Pate, the Director-General of NIMR, Prof. Innocent Ujah, expressed optimism that the new diagnostic facility would aid in increasing the indices of TB case detection, which will make for proper diagnosis and treatment, leading to reduction in the number of deaths occasioned by improper diagnosis and treatment of TB patients in the country.