By LUCY OSUIZIGBO-OKECHUKWU

The Gender Perspective and Social Development Centre (GPSDC), a civil society organisation, has decried the rising cases of Tuberculosis (TB) in Anambra.

Mrs Eucharia Anekwe, Executive Secretary, GPSDC, expressed her displeasure at the ongoing stakeholders’ forum under the Fund TB project, in Awka, on Tuesday.

The project whichh is being implemented by GPSDC in Anambra is sponsored by USAID through the Palladium Group in five South-East and South-South states, under its Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement programme.

Anekwe said, in spite of the N50 million budgetary allocation to TB intervention in the state in 2022 and 2023, funds released for implementation had been a major problem.

According to her, commitment from the state government to domestic funding will help to reduce the burden of TB.

“Statistics show that the burden of TB is growing in the state. As we speak, many Local Government Areas (LGAs) do not have GeneXpert machines for rapid diagnostic test for TB detection.

“For some LGAs that have the diagnostic machine, they do not have enough to cater to the people.

“This forum is to kick-start discussions on how to ensure improved domestic funding for TB interventions in Anambra.

“We appeal to the state government to increase budgetary allocations and to work towards prompt release of funds already budgeted for TB control programmes,” she appealed.

Earlier in her presentation, Mrs Chiamaka Oguejiofor, Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person for Anambra state TB Control Programme, said the annual prevalence rate of TB in the state stood at 323 per 100,000 persons.

Oguejiofor added that incidence rate stood at 219 per 100,000 persons.

“From 2,300 cases detection recorded in 2018, we grew steadily to 2,449 in 2019, 3,008 in 2020, 4,946, in 2021, 8,550, while combined data for 2022 and 2023 stand at 13,125.

“However, case detection reduced from 3,002 in the first quarter of 2024 to 2,500 in the second quarter.

“In 2023, Anambra met 95 per cent of its TB case finding target with 90 per cent treatment success rate. We also recorded 59 per cent of our childhood TB case finding target and 31 per cent for Drug Resistant TB case finding target.

“In 2022, the state won an award in childhood TB. We judiciously used available resources but the relapse was due to withdrawal of funding by certain partners,” she said.

Also speaking, Mr Arthur Iwuanya, Director, Planning in the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, said there was a need for relevant data to justify the need for increased budgetary allocations for TB.

In her remarks, Mrs Oge Ozoemena, Programme Manager, GPSDC, said TB should be treated as an emergency public health concern in the state and appealed to the state government to understand the need for increased domestic funding. (NAN)