The National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP) said Nigerians infected with tuberculosis (TB) have rights which need to be respected by the public.
The director and national coordinator of the programme, Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike said this in an interview with journalists over the weekend in Abuja.
According to Anyaike, stigma affects people’s health-seeking behaviour and is a factor that drives the global burden of TB. Stigma, he said, does not only harm people affected by TB but reduce healthcare workers’ commitment to high-quality healthcare service delivery.
On why men became the biggest TB casualties in Nigeria, he said they were mostly the breadwinners with the attendant exposure to environmental hazards that favoured TB infection.
“Excessive stress with probable undernutrition gives room to TB infection. Lifestyles that may be risk factors for developing TB are smoking, mining, among others.”
The NTBLCP director-general said awareness-creation and improved laboratory network improved the health-seeking behaviour of men, improving case detection.
“Government is improving the strategies toward TB case detection in Nigeria; more men coming up with TB is just confirming the obvious. Government still maintains equitable in healthcare delivery in the country,” he added.
