President Muhammadu Buhari has come out to say that the coronavirus pandemic has affected efforts at ending a preventable and curable disease like Tuberculosis.

He revealed this recently via his goodwill message to the roundtable conference of the Board of the “Global Stop TB Partnership.”

According to him, there are increasing numbers of missing TB cases in Nigeria and the country ranks amongst those countries bearing the brunt of an increasing burden of TB, so something has to be done about it.

He added that he would keep improving funding of health services via voluntary contributory schemes that decrease out of pocket spending and at the risk of deadly costs to patients and their families.

His words, “As I mentioned during the UN High-Level Meeting in 2018, it is now even more urgent that the global community, especially the African region, act in unison with rededicated efforts, using the latest available technology and tools to address the TB epidemic.”

“Nigeria still ranks amongst those countries bearing the brunt of an increasing burden of TB with a growing number of “missing” TB cases.”

“The reversal of Nigeria’s difficult health indices, remains a top priority of this administration, including the gap in TB case detection, fueled partly by the dearth of acceptable, accessible, affordable and patient-centered basic health facilities.”

“We are also improving funding of health services through voluntary contributory schemes that reduce out of pocket spending and the risk of catastrophic costs to patients and their families including those with TB.”

“It is imperative that we not only commit to ending the TB epidemic as one of the milestones enshrined in the SDGs but also to institute an accountability element to ensure that our commitment translates to the achievement of desired results.”