THE United States Consul General in Lagos, Mr Will Stevens, has praised the efforts of Nigerian partners in battling tuberculosis and other infectious diseases in Nigeria.
Mr Stevens, who gave the commendation at an Integrated Community Health Outreach held in Ayobo in the Alimosho LGA of Lagos State, said the time had come for African solutions to address global problems.
It should be noted that between April 2020 and February 2023, 1,643 tuberculosis cases were diagnosed in Alimosho Local Government, the largest council area in Lagos State.
Further analysis showed a high disease burden in the Ayobo area of the local government, necessitating the scaling up of the USAID TB-LON3 project on the community to mark World Tuberculosis Day.
Praising the efforts of the various partners in the project in Ayobo, the United States Consul General in Lagos, Mr Will Stevens, said the effort of partners in tackling Covid-19 had reflected in the fight against the spread of tuberculosis, necessitating his call for African solutions to global health problems.
“I want to commend all the people over here, our healthcare workers are the ones doing the hard work right now because they have been on the frontlines in incredible battle for the last three years,” said the Consul General.
The Managing Director of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria, Dr Charles Mensah, said more than five hundred residents of Ayobo benefited from the one-day health outreach, saying that sensitizing the community was crucial to winning the battle against the spread of tuberculosis.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of Lagos State Primary Health Care Board, Dr Ibrahim Mustapha, commended the USAID for helping to reduce the infectious disease burden in the state.
“Let me express the gratitude of the state government to USAID and the United States government for your efforts at bringing tuberculosis to a very low level in a densely populated state like Lagos,” said Dr Mustapha.
From the community health outreach, the team moved to the Orisunmbare Senior High School, Ayobo, to inaugurate the school health club to ensure early reporting and detection of tuberculosis cases among school children.
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