UNGA: Nigeria, Others Commit To Ending TB By 2030

Nigeria, some UN Member States, civil society representatives and other stakeholders have approved a declaration to advance efforts to end Tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. The document lays out ambitious new targets for the next five years that include reaching 90 per cent of people with TB prevention and care services, providing social benefit packages to those who have the disease, and licensing at least one new vaccine. TB is the second leading infectious killer disease worldwide after COVID-19, with some 1.6 million deaths in 2021 alone, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Also, the only available vaccine of TB is more than a century old. All the 193 Member States and stakeholders made the political commitment at a High-level meeting on the fight against Tuberculosis at the ongoing 78th of the UN General Assembly. “Why, after all the progress we have made – from sending man to the moon, to bringing the world to our fingertips – have we been unable to defeat a preventable and curable disease that kills over 4,400 people a day?” the President of the UN General Assembly, Dennis Francis, said. TB had afflicted humanity for millennia, going by several names including the white plague and consumption. It is caused by bacteria and mainly affects the lungs, and treatment is with antibiotics. A WHO council established to facilitate the development and equitable use of new vaccines met for the first time this week. Stamping out the TB epidemic is among the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the roadmap for a more just and green global future by the end of the decade. Five years ago, countries set the target of delivering TB treatment to 40 million people, reaching 34 million. They also aimed to provide 30 million with preventive treatment but fell short by half. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called for action to tackle the main drivers of TB – poverty, undernutrition, lack of access to healthcare, the prevalence of HIV infections, diabetes, mental health, and smoking. “Stigma surrounding the disease also needs to be reduced so that people can get help without fear of discrimination,” she added, while urging governments to ensure universal health coverage that includes TB screening, prevention and treatment. Mohammed also shared her own reason for supporting the global fight. “My commitment is my personal story: losing my father to TB at 50, 37 years ago this week. “Today we have the tools to diagnose, treat, and what we need right now is a vaccine. Let’s end TB now. It is possible,” she said. Mongolian author Handaa Rea, who had survived the disease, urged world leaders to “treat TB not only medically but also socially.” She had written about her own experience of TB-related stigma, discrimination that she said is prevalent in many developing countries, resulting in “hundreds of thousands of people” delaying seeking treatment. Rea said: “The consequences of stigma are “more enhanced” for women and girls who are held to higher standards of health, well-being and beauty. “When society says things like ‘she’s too skinny, because she has TB, she’s unworthy of marriage because she has or had TB, or she continues to have TB because she’s irresponsible. “We as a society are bullying TB patients one step closer to death – a death that is fully preventable. And this has to stop.” WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus commended the “amazing” energy in the room, where participants frequently chanted “End TB, yes we can!” He welcomed the political declaration, which was agreed by consensus ahead of the meeting.  It will be presented to the General Assembly, the UN’s most representative organ, comprising all 193 Member States. The UN scribe said: “For millennia, our ancestors have suffered and died with tuberculosis, without knowing what it was, what caused it, or how to stop it,” he said. “Today, we have knowledge and tools they could only have dreamed of.  We have political commitment.  And we have an opportunity that no generation in the history of humanity has had: the opportunity to write the final chapter in the story of TB.”

Nigeria has recorded appreciable success on UN TB control –FG

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare says the country has made significant progress in the implementation of the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) declaration on Tuberculosis (TB) control. Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike, its Director of Public Health, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the Pre-UNHLM on TB National Stakeholders’ Consultation. The event was organised by Stop TB Partnership Nigeria in collaboration with the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP). The 2018 UNHLM on TB resulted in the adoption of the Political Declaration on the Fight against TB in September 2018. Nigeria committed itself to implementing the declaration to achieve the targets set forth. TB remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, with the country ranking among the top 10 with the highest burden of the disease in the world. Anyaike, who was represented by Dr. Urhioke Ochuko, a Deputy Director who currently oversees the Childhood Tuberculosis Unit, said that Nigeria had increased the number of TB cases detected and treated. “We have detected more than 285,000 cases; we had a 60 per cent achievement of the target in 2022,” he said. He said the country had also strengthened health systems. “Nigeria has prioritised the strengthening of its health systems to improve TB control, including the training of healthcare workers and the establishment of more TB treatment centres. “TB preventive treatment for Nigerians has also improved significantly from the pre-2018 levels,” he said. He said that the Nigerian government had shown increased political commitment to TB control with some additional funding to TB control by the government and partners. He, however, said that there were still significant challenges that the country was facing in achieving the targets set forth in the political declaration. The official listed the challenges to include inadequate funding, low child TB case detection and low enrolment of diagnosed DR-TB patients on treatment, He called on participants to equally explore the possibility of more investment for TB treatment as well as innovative TB financing strategies to match funding with the multiple interventions being rolled out. Mr Mayowa Joel, Executive Secretary of Stop TB Partnership, said that the 2023 UNHLM special session would serve as an opportunity for a comprehensive review of the political declaration. “The theme of 2023 UNHLM on TB is: ‘Advancing science, finance and innovation, and their benefits, to urgently end the global TB epidemic by ensuring equitable access to prevention, testing, treatment and care,” he said. He said that the UNHLM on TB is the most significant political meeting ever held on TB and the biggest opportunity to raise the political priority of TB. “It secured commitment from Heads of State and governments for a coordinated global response, resulting in a substantial increase in financial resources for TB. “That led to millions of lives being saved from premature deaths from TB,” he said. He emphasised the need for Nigeria to develop a comprehensive and coordinated response to UNHLM.