WHO, Borno train 60 health workers to fight tuberculosis
By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in partnership with Borno state government has trained 60 health workers in fighting tuberculosis in the state.
According to the Organisation, Governor Babagana Zulum has requested the support of WHO to improve tuberculosis detection and treatment.
Flagging off the training session open, on Tuesday in Maiduguri, WHO’s State Coordinator, Dr. Salisu Ibrahim, disclosed: “The recent data on TB and leprosy control programme, indicated that there was 37 per cent detection of tuberculosis, while its rate of treatment rose to 93% in 2023 in the state.”
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He said that in February 2024, we swung into action with a comprehensive health package of intervention to improve the tuberculosis situation across the state.
Ibrahim continued: “We are commencing today’s 10-day training of 60 TB and Leprosy Programme Officers in two batches from the 27 Local Government Areas.
He said after the training, WHO would provide technical support, drugs and commodities;
According to him, the support was to ensure adequate case detection, treatment and data management.
He lamented that tuberculosis is also a disease of global concern and the humanitarian crisis in the Northeast has heightened the situation in the state.
Besides, he added that a concerted effort is therefore crucial in expanding case finding and treatment.
The UN health organisation, urged the trainees to be serious in building their capacities in fighting tuberculosis and leprosy in the state.
“After this training, the State government is expected to improve TB detection and treatment to reduce deaths associated with the disease,” he said.
He noted that the training will go a long way in overcoming the challenges on TB Program management, to improve the state’s health indices.
He said other health partners have contributed immensely to the rehabilitation of existing health facilities.
Other partners also provided essential drugs and commodities, including capacity building, nutrition, family planning, risk communication, WASH and outbreak response.
The WHO acting Emergency Manager, Northeast Humanitarian Health Emergency Response, Dr. Kumshida Balami, noted that the training of health workers was aimed at improving knowledge and understanding of tuberculosis’s early detection and reporting.
According to him, the detection should be within the national integrated disease surveillance and response system and WHO.
He, therefore, charged the trainees to monitor and support the care and treatment of TB patients TB.
The Commissioner of Health, Prof. Baba Mallam Gana, represented by the Director of Public Health, Dr. Goni Abba, said that people contract tuberculosis when their immune system is very low.
“Out of the over 400 facilities for the detection and treatment of tuberculosis, only 293 are functional,” he lamented.
