Adekoya: Why Nigeria Has a High Tuberculosis Disease Burden
The high rates of tuberculosis in Nigeria are a result of her population size and social conditions, according to a medical expert and an Associate Professor of Public Health at the Community Medicine and Primary Healthcare Department of Birmingham University in Nasarawa State.
Adekoya who is also a Research Lead at the Light Consortium, a six-year Global Health Research initiative, funded by UK-Aid, said that beyond having the highest number of tuberculosis cases in Africa, Nigerian men are more affected by the disease than their female counterparts.
“As you are aware Nigeria has the highest burden of tuberculosis in Africa and is among the top three countries with the highest burden of the disease across the world. Unfortunately, a lot of information about tuberculosis is well disseminated especially in our rural communities. For instance, many people do not know that treatment for tuberculosis is meant to be free in the country,” he said.
LIGHT Consortium is a six-year cross-disciplinary global health research programme funded by UK aid, led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), and working with partners in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and the UK.
The research aims to provide new evidence on the effectiveness of different gender-sensitive pathways and approaches to health.
Speaking to THISDAY during the workshop organised by the Light Consortium in Abuja which ended over the weekend, Adekoya revealed that part of the factors fueling an increase in tuberculosis disease in Nigeria is the share size of her population and the congested nature of the semi-urban neighbourhoods.
Adekoya said: “I think one of the biggest factors is our population, living conditions and other social determinants of health that affect our population.
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“I give an example in our Federal Capital Territory in Abuja. Here, a lot of people live in semi-urban settlements on the outskirts of Abuja where the houses are congested with people living in shanties and make-shift buildings without proper ventilation. This leads to the spread of diseases and helps to increase the rate of infection of diseases like tuberculosis.”
The university don said that though healthcare facilities have been striving to contain the health challenges there is a lot of room for improvement.
Regarding the demography of the spread and impact of tuberculosis, Adekoya said that findings by the research team of Light Consortium have confirmed that more men are usually affected by the disease than women.
“We have found out that through the research we have conducted more men are affected by tuberculosis and that fewer men access healthcare services,” he said
Adekoya further said that one of the key foci of ongoing research by Light Consortium is to determine why men have a higher burden of tuberculosis and why they are accessing health care at rates lower than women and children.
However, he said that among initial findings is that a lot of men have health-seeking behaviours that do not promote care services for tuberculosis.
According to him, most men are engaged daily in the pursuit of income for their families and are hooked to such activities that help provide means of livelihood to the extent that forgo taking care of their health situations.
Adekoya said that what the Light Consortium is doing as part of its advocacy efforts is to help create policies and programmes that can help influence gender-transformative approaches to tuberculosis care services, focusing on men.
He also said that the capacity training workshop for health journalists was meant to provide them with a basic overview of tuberculosis disease and its place as a major public health concern in Nigeria.
The medical expert said that one of the key aims of the workshop was to find a collaborative means of sending messages to the public on the current situation of things in relation to tuberculosis disease and interventions being made to control its spread in Nigeria.
SOURCE: THISDAY
