Poor budgetary release, affecting TB care in Cross River – Official

Mrs Felicia Akam, Deputy Programme Manager of Cross River’s Tuberculosis (TB), Leprosy and Buruli Ulcer Control Programme has disclosed that poor budgetary release was affecting the sustainability of TB care in the state.

Akam made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Calabar during a meeting aimed at unlocking funds for TB control in Cross River.

NAN reports that TB, a disease that affects the lungs is caused by a type of bacteria and is spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes or spits, although, it is preventable and curable

NAN also reports that according to World Health Organization (WHO), Africa Region, 2024 data, Nigeria has the highest burden of TB in Africa, and the disease kills an average of 268 people every day in the nation.

The deputy programme manager, who doubles as the monitoring and evaluation officer, said the TB programme in the state had been largely donor-driven up till 2024, even though the government assisted with facilities and manpower.

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She, however, noted that, in active case finding in the state, the major challenge was sustaining what implementing partners are doing to support the programme.

“Every time the state programme presents its budget to the government, the release of funds to sustain the programme is a challenge, which is a problem for the funding partners and hampers case finding.

“In quarter one of 2024, we had about 1,666 cases and there was a drop in quarter two which we got 1,565 cases in all forms of TB notification.

“These results are poor due to poor case-finding operations occasioned by poor funding to comb rural areas in the state, especially the hard-to-reach areas, to get infected people,” she said.

She added that, if support from the state government in the form of counterpart funding and early release of budgetary allocation were done, they would be able to close the gap in meeting the state’s target in TB care

On his part, Mr Inyang Bassey, External Communication Manager of Lafarge Africa, said the availability of funds for TB in Cross River was not the challenge but the sincerity of purpose and effective utilisation by the implementers of the programme.

He said no responsible company will see a proposal to help in a particular health issue in the community where it operates and turn it down.

Reiterating the issue of funding, Mr Imoh Isua-Ikoh, Coordinator of Peace Point Development Foundation said a lot of funding partners left Cross River in the past due to the state government’s refusal to pay counterpart funds.

Isua-Ikoh also added that another major challenge for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) who implement projects in the state was the exploitative demands of community stakeholders from NGOs who come to help them.