Plateau Commissioner for Health, Dr Nimkong Ndam, says the State Government is working proactively to acquire more Rapid Diagnostic machines for detecting Tuberculosis in the state.
Ndam disclosed this on Wednesday when his Ministry in collaboration with Breakthrough Action, one of its partners, organised a roadwalk and sensitisation to mark the 2021 World Tuberculosis Day.
He said that only eight local government areas in the state had the Rapid Diagnostic machines for detecting Tuberculosis( Gene-X-pert machine), adding that the government was working to ensure that all the 17 local government areas in the state had the machine for detecting the disease.
He said that it was estimated that 2,600 persons developed TB, every year in the state, but lamented that out of the estimated 10,576 TB sufferers in the state, only 2,502 were notified to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme( NTBLCP) at the end of 2019.
The commissioner further disclosed that 19.9 per cent increase of all forms of notified TB cases were children of less than 15 years of age, as at 2019.
Similarly, he said,in 2020 there was an 18.1 per cent increase in all forms of TB whose sufferers were children of less than 15 years of age.
He said that the screening and treatment of TB was absolutely free of charge in the state.
According to Ndam, the state has 1,479 health facilities and 394 DOT units, and urged people to avail themselves for screening, testing and treatment of the disease, as it is curable.
He said that people with weakened immune system were more susceptible to the disease .
He said that some of the symptoms of the disease were persistent cough for two weeks and more, weight loss, night sweats, loss of appetite and fever.
Earlier, the State Coordinator, Breakthrough Action, Dr Moses Sunday, said that the major impediment against having a TB-free state was low awareness as regards the disease.
Sunday said that the ministry and the Breakthrough Action were working proactively to overcome the challenge by carrying out mass awareness about the disease and to tell people that it was curable and that the treatment was free of charge.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the 2021 celebration is “The Clock is Ticking” with the slogan “That cough fit be TB, not COVID, check am ooh”.