World TB Day: Expert Wants More Attention On Prevention

As the world marks the 2021 World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, today, an expert, Dr Victor Oris-Onyiri, has called on relevant authorities to be more committed in efforts to end the trend of the disease in Nigeria.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, Oris-Onyiri, who is the Rivers State Programme Manager for the Control of TB, Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer, noted that if half of the attention given to Covid-19 was given to the prevention of TB in Nigeria, a lot would be achieved.
“It should receive the kind of attention Covid-19 is receiving. Just half of that attention, we will go far in achieving reduction in TB-related sicknesses”, he said.
“TB”, he explained, “is a chronic illness caused by an organism called Micro Bacterium TB, which is found in the air and gets to the air through either cough or sneeze of an infected person”.
According to him, “when an infected person coughs or sneezes, the micro-organism is spread into the air. If you are around that environment, you’re at risk of contracting the infection”.
The public health physician stated that by its nature, TB affects mostly people who live in over-crowded areas, such as slums or rooms, and those who are malnourished.
This, he explained, is largely why many view TB as an illness of the underprivileged.
However, Oris-Onyiri explained further that, due to the circumstances in which Nigerians coexist, it is not totally right to assume that only the less-privileged suffer from TB.
He stated that “because of the way our systems are, those who are privileged and those who are not are all open to contracting the illness.
“This is because, the man who does electrical jobs for the privileged could have TB, and can transmit it to an entire privileged family”, he said.
The symptoms of TB, Oris-Onyiri said, include coughing for up to two weeks or more, fever, excessive sweating at night, sometimes the cough can have blood particles in the phlegm, and weight loss.
For children, he said, the child will not be growing normally, and also look malnourished.
The World TB Day is commemorated annually on March 24 to raise awareness on the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB prevalence.
The theme for this year is: “The Clock is Ticking”, meaning that the world is running out of time to act on the commitment to end TB made by global leaders.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo