WHO raises alarm over ‘rise of TB infection’ in Borno

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday raised an alarm over what it termed the “increasing rate of tuberculosis (TB) infection in Borno.”

The organisation’s Head of Mission/Country Representative, Walter Mulombo, expressed the concern during the North-East Nigeria 13th WHO End-Term Joint Operations Review (JOR) in Yola, Adamawa State capital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a type of bacteria and often affects the lungs.

NAN also reports that the JOR is for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states, affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The country representative, however, assured of WHO’s readiness to work with Borno State Government to address the problem.

He said: “The rate of tuberculosis infection in Borno is worrisome. It means that Borno could be a ticking bomb for tuberculosis explosion in Nigeria.

“We don’t want to allow that because of humanitarian crisis; we need to work together because that thing itself is strictly an emergency.’’

Mr Mulombo urged stakeholders to take action to accelerate help and to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal of leaving no one behind.

Governor laments

Earlier, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State said the state has lost about 50 per cent of its health institutions and that many staff were abducted or killed due to the insurgency.

Represented by the Borno State Commissioner for Health, Baba Malam-Gana, Mr Zulum said “One of the consequences of this is the issue of tuberculosis, which needs a lot of staff to work on it, including machines.”

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According to him, the state currently reaches the hard-to-reach areas through the help of the military to deliver services such as immunisation.

He urged the global body to help in that regard, as well as in tackling Gender-Based Violence in communities.

Adamawa governor speaks

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State, represented by the Commissioner for Health, Felix Tangwame, thanked the organisation for its contributions to the state in many ways.

He said WHO had provided various services such as capacity building, and surveillance in preventing outbreak of diseases in the state, among others.

He called for more assistance, especially in the area of training for health workers, saying such efforts would help them to be updated on new diseases and to know how to handle them.

On his part, the Yobe State Commissioner for Health, Muhammad Gana, who was represented by Babagana Abba, the programme manager of Saving One Million Lives, described WHO’s contributions to health issues as “excellent.”

He confirmed that as a result of the insurgency, the state experienced a lot of challenges but WHO’s intervention helped to ameliorate the situation.