The federal government on Thursday said that there is a distressing rise in cases of undetected and undiagnosed tuberculosis in Nigeria, saying that this development puts a lot of Nigerians at the risk of the disease. The Minister of Health, Mr. Isaac Adewole said at an occasion organised by Star Deepwater Petroleum Limited to mark the 2016 World Tuberculosis Day in Abuja that it is estimated that Nigeria records quite close to 250,000 deaths every year from tuberculosis. Adewole also disclosed that amongst the 22 high-burdened countries that account for 80 per cent of global tuberculosis (TB) burden, Nigeria is currently number four, after India, Indonesia, and China.
According to Adewole, the 2015 global TB report noted that of the estimated 9.6 million incidents of tuberculosis cases globally, only six million cases had been detected and notified, leaving an estimated 3.6 million cases either not diagnosed or diagnosed but not reported. “Of this global group, Nigeria accounts for 15 per cent of the gap in tuberculosis case notification. The implication is that only one out of six cases of tuberculosis roaming around are detected, while five out of six roam around undetected. In other words everybody is not safe,” said Adewole.
