Insecurity in parts of Kaduna State has continued to form part of the major challenges limiting Tuberculosis, TB elimination efforts in the state.
KNCV, a group working to eliminate Tuberculosis in the state says programmes and activities mapped out to help test, detect and treat cases are not assessed in parts of Southern Kaduna as a result of the insecurity in the area.
The KNCV Senior Programs Officer in Kaduna State, Julius Barnabas Gajere expressed worry that all the local governments in Southern Kaduna, especially Birnin Gwari, Giwa and some parts of Igabi, Kajuru and Chikun in the central zone are no-go areas owing to insecurity.
Speaking during the World Tuberculosis Day celebration in the state, Gajere said the state government needs to do more in terms of counterpart funding for TB elimination, insisting that more could be done with more funding.
While emphasising that community engagement and assessing hard-to-reach areas will be more successful if counterpart funds are assured by the government, he said the KNCV was ready to support operations of the Wellness on Wheels Trucks, WOW, procured to facilitate TB cases detection among the local population.
‘‘The main challenge we are facing is insecurity. Infact, all the LGAs in the Southern Zone and others like Birnin Gwari, Giwa and some parts of Igabi, Kajuru and Chikun in the central zone are no-go areas.
‘‘The government needs to do more in terms of counterpart funding. Community service and Media engagement could be boosted if there’s counterpart funding.
‘‘There are five multipurpose WOW trucks and KNCV could support the operation of the trucks’.’
In Kaduna State, a total of 2,186,945 persons were screened for TB, 242,945 persons of this number were identified as presumptive cases and tested, 21, 557 of them were confirmed to be with the disease in 2022.
Data from the State’s Ministry of Health indicate that 11,325 eligible contacts of TB patients were placed on TB preventive treatment (TPT), while a 100% patient enrolment rate was achieved in the same year.
