Perspectives on Community Tuberculosis Care in Nigeria

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) has been declared a public health emergency in Nigeria. Currently, the country has the highest TB burden in Africa and the third in the whole world behind China and India only. Further complicating the efforts at combating this ugly scenario is the rising multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) whose emergence can go a long way in nullifying the previous efforts in controlling TB in Nigeria. From 665 MDR-TB cases notified in 2013, the number of such cases has been estimated to climb to 29, 469 cases in 2020. In 2006, World Health Organization (WHO) developed a new six point Stop TB strategy; empowering the community to take charge in TB prevention and control is one of the key points. Similarly, Community Tuberculosis Care has been piloted in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia in a multi-national project to evaluate community contribution to TB care and found to be effective, acceptable, affordable and cost-effective. Down the years, many efforts have been employed in the prevention and control of TB in Nigeria. Some degree of success has been noticed but with the current statistics; there is a lot more that needs to put in place. Community Based Tuberculosis Care (CBTC) will go a long way in reaching the un-reached, improving the case-detection rate and reducing stigmatization of patients. All these will align Nigeria to the Post-2015 global goal of not just controlling but ending the global epidemic.