The Nigeria Medical Association has called on the Federal Government to make the fight against Tuberculosis one of its centenary anniversary projects by massively investing in TB research activities towards the discovery of the much needed anti-TB vaccine.

In a statement as part of the group’s efforts to mark the 2013 World Tuberculosis Day yesterday with the, theme, ‘Stop TB In My Life Time,’ the President of the association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele said different stakeholders in the society needed to wake up to the reality that Nigeria has the highest TB disease burden in Africa and 10th largest in the whole world.

According to the 2012 global TB report, considerable progress has been made all over the world despite the insurgence of HIV/AIDS considered hitherto as a major impediment to the control efforts.

Dr. Enabuelele emphasized the need for the Government to take heed to the slogan ‘Stop TB In My Life Time’, and called on research organisations to give greater attention to Nigerian prone issues like TB.

The NMA said there are over 84,263 new infections yearly and over 27,000 mortality rate.

According to the NMA, “tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is mostly transmitted from person to person via inhalation and ingestion of droplets from the throat and lungs of infected individuals with the active form of the disease.”

“The disease also affects a wide range of other organs such as the lymph nodes, intestines, kidneys, reproductive organs, skin, central nervous system and the bones including the spine which are all susceptible.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said over 2 billion people in the world are infected with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The NMA said the disease mostly affects those between 25-34 years (36.6 per cent) with Lagos, Kano, Oyo and Benue states being the states with the highest level of infections; while Ekiti and Bayelsa States have the least cases of infections.

People with HIV/AIDS are mostly vulnerable to the disease with 26 per cent of them infected with 3.1 per cent of this number infected with the Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

The association decries the unavailability of drugs and modern treatment facilities to treat the disease in the country.

“Poor availability of microscopy (smear), culture, drug susceptibility centre and presence of only one national reference laboratory at the national tuberculosis and leprosy control programme headquarters in Kaduna,” it said.

It also decried the poor budgetary allocations and dwindling international funding to fight the spread of the disease.

“Funding of TB control activities was another area of poor performance with only 71% budget implementation; only 28% came from domestic sources and 48% from the Global Fund an international funding partner of the United States Government, an observation considered as ominous.

“Confirming those fears, 2013 budget estimates show that whereas there is a marginal increase of 2% in domestic funding, the contribution from the Global Fund has depreciated to 42%, a sign for Nigeria to start looking inwards for other funding options for the fight against TB,” the doctors said.

With Nigeria lagging behind in all areas of rolling back the disease, the association doubts that the country “will be able to achieve the goal of 50% reduction in the prevalence and death from TB compared with the 1990 baseline by 2015 and eliminating TB as a public health problem by 2050.”

The NMA said the realisation of the fact the tuberculosis “is an entirely preventable and easily curable disease if simple public health regulations, hygiene practices and the treatment guidelines are strictly adhered to” makes the difficulties being faced in fighting the disease more disheartening.”

The association therefore called on the government to increase its commitment in the fight against the disease by increasing budgetary allocations for health to 15 per cent. It also called on the government to “establish a National Centre for Disease Control for effective surveillance and control of diseases,” including tuberculosis.

The association also said the government should embark on a massive vaccination campaign as a means to eradicate the disease.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has been ranked the second highest prevalence of people living  with HIV in the world while only 30 per cent of people requiring HIV treatment are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

This was made known by the head, Grant Management Division of the Global Fund, Mark Edington in Lagos during the signing of five grant agreements worth $335million.

The agreements were signed between Nigeria and Global Fund to support programmes aimed at fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Nigeria.

Edington said that the grant agreements were a critical part of the  $3billion in 169 grants that the Global Fund has committed in 2012.

“For Nigeria, the grant agreements address a tremendous need: Nigeria has the second highest number of people living with HIV in the world and only 30 per cent of people requiring HIV treatment are receiving antiretroviral therapy,” he said.

Mr. Edington said that the grant-signing followed the launch in October by  President, Goodluck Jonathan, of a national programme aimed at “Saving One Million Lives” by 2015 by increasing access to effective basic health services.

He said the country announced that it was committing $500 million to support the programme.

“Nigeria has made some big strides and to turn back now is unthinkable, but the challenges are formidable and much remains to be done,” he said.

He said there is now an excellent opportunity for government to close the funding gap for antiretrovirals.

The Global Fund leader said that the HIV epidemic in Nigeria is highly concentrated among high-risk groups with 20 per cent of infections attributed to female sex workers.

He added that Injecting drug users and men who have sex with men account for 9 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, of annual new infections.

“Grant resources will be targeted to achieve a very significant increase in numbers of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy and prevention of mother-to-child-transmission services.

“During a transformation of the Global Fund’s grant management structure this year, Nigeria was identified as one of the 20 “high impact” countries.

The Minister of Health, Prof  Onyebuchi Chukwu, while speaking, said that the grant signing was another giant step in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

“With the commitment of a spirited organisation such as the Global Fund, solutions are being offered and answers are emerging.

Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, commended Global Fund for the attention they gave to Nigeria, saying “we are greatly encouraged that the Global Fund is paying particular attention to Nigeria.

“I look forward to a very fruitful future relationship between Nigeria and the Global Fund. But that relationship must be based on performance and accountability,” he said.

Global Fund is an international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria.

The Global Fund also promotes partnerships between governments, civil society, the private sector, and local communities.