Health
JULIUS Gajere, the Director, Tuberculosis (TB) and Leprosy Control Programme in Kaduna State, said the state recorded 3,119 new TB cases in 2019.
He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna that “the new cases were recorded in the first, second and third quarter of 2019, while the figure for the fourth quarter is still being worked on.”
He said that the state would scale up access to prevention and treatment to detect new cases, as well as sustain its house-to-house search for new active cases of tuberculosis to raise the detection rate.
According to him, the state in 2019 targeted 18,000 new cases to be detected but so far identified 3,119.
The director added that “we recorded 3119 new TB cases in three quarters of 2019, and this is why we want to strengthen interventions to identify more cases.
“The state government hopes to increase the number of Gene Expert machines and strengthen its tuberculosis surveillance department to track all cases.
“We have Gene Expert machines in nine local government areas and we need 14 more to cover all the 23 local government areas. We are working with other partners to see if we can have more machines at least one in all the local governments.”
Gajere advised residents who have cough for more than two weeks to go for TB screening and testing and listed the symptoms to include; loss of appetite, weight loss and chest pain.
“Once you have a cough lasting for two or more weeks, go for screening to know your status. When you cough or sneeze, make sure you use tissue paper because tuberculosis is transmitted in the air.”
He said that “the test, screening, and treatment for tuberculosis is free”, and urged Nigerians to utilise the opportunity to know their status.
Gajere said that Kaduna State has 202 tuberculosis treatment centres and 84 laboratories to cater to patients. (NAN)
– Jan. 20, 2020 @ 15:49 GMT |
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