The Kwara state first lady and Founder of Ajike people’s support center, Ambassador Dr. Mrs Olufolake Abdulrazaq has stressed the need to intensify sensitization and awareness in combating tuberculosis in the state.
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Ambassador Abdulrazaq stated this at an event organized by the state Ministry of Health to commemorate the 2022 World Tuberculosis Day at the G.pinacle Hotel Ilorin, North Central Nigeria.
Ambassador Olufolake Abdulrazaq who is the TB advocacy Ambassador for the state described this infectious and curable disease as ‘deadly’ with over 4,100 death record and close to 28,000 infected people on a daily basis.
She commended the Governor of Kwara state, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for prioritizing the health and wellbeing of the people of the state and further called for more synergized efforts for sustainable sensitization strategy towards ending the spread of the disease in the state and country at large.
In his address, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Razaq Raji explained that the observance of this year’s World Tuberculosis Day which is themed “Invest to end TB; saves lives” is aimed at raising more awareness and also advocate for increased funding for TB control so as to stem the alarming rate of the spread of this killer disease.
Also in his welcome address, the state’s TB control program manager, Dr Muhammed Abdulrasheed quipped on the need to combine forces in eradicating this menace as it is a critical issue which needs collective intervention.
The guest lecturer, Dr Gafar Alawode explained the alarming rate of TB in Nigeria with a wide funding gap as there have been 155,000 deaths record out of over 418,000 people that fell ill with TB.
He further stated that Kwara is on the right track as targeted provisions has been made for the people of the state to have easy access to health care facilities through various initiated health schemes.
