FG strikes $50m funding deal with private sector to combat TB By Sola Ogundipe

To bridge the significant funding shortfall in its fight against tuberculosis, TB, and achieve the goal of eliminating TB by 2030, the Federal government has struck a $50 million (N80 billion) funding deal with the private sector.

Currently, only 6 percent of the National TB budget comes from domestic sources, leaving a 70 percent funding gap and a critical shortage that has hindered the widespread implementation of innovative TB interventions and the execution of the 2021-2026 TB National Strategic Plan
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, who disclosed this in Lagos weekend, said the federal government would contribute $25 million to match the $25 million financial commitment made by the private sector towards the goal.

Pate, who spoke at the launch of the Private Sector Strategy to End Tuberculosis in Nigeria, organized by the Stop TB Nigeria Partnership, gave a call to action on the need for the private sector involvement in ending TB in Nigeria, saying the aim was to really energize and bring the public sector with the private sector to work together to end TB.

“What we’ve offered to the private sector and captains of industry, to the millionaires and billionaires that are Nigerians, is that if they step up to $25 million (N40 billion), we would work to match them between what the federal government and development partners would put in, in terms of domestic resources and also mobilizing other philanthropic sources to invest.

“The federal government has struck this deal with the private sector towards ending tuberculosis by 2030. Together, we can ensure that our resources are used efficiently, effectively, and transparently, with a plan to monitor our progress over time.

“What we are doing is to say, look, the federal government does its part, the state governments do their part, and we saw the wife of the Lagos state governor as well, and what Lagos state government is doing, and the private sector joins us alongside the development partners. Together, we can be able to end tuberculosis over time in Nigeria, but it’s a long journey.

Pate explained that Nigeria requires more than $25 million to meet the goal of ending TB, noting that there are many entities supporting Nigeria’s effort.

“The Global Fund Against HIV, TB, and Malaria is contributing grant financing in terms of Nigeria’s efforts, and the Nigerian government is also contributing its own and will do more over time, but there are gaps because we are screening and finding more cases, so obtaining the drugs to treat them could be a challenge, let’s say, from next year.
“So we are anticipating that while federal government will do more in 2025, we are also offering the opportunity for the private sector to also do more, because many of them employ people.”
The Sustainable Development Goal, SDG, targets for 2030 are a 90 percent reduction in the number of TB deaths and an 80 percent reduction in the new TB cases per 100,000 population per year, compared with 2015 levels.

The Director, Public Health of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Chukwuma Anyaike however, warned that by the first quarter of 2025, Nigeria may have a number of TB patients that it cannot cater for, hence the importance of the private sector strategy as a comprehensive and collaborative call to action for private sector involvement in the fight against TB in Nigeria.

The Country Representative, WHO Nigeria, Dr Walter Mulombo, explained that in a broader context universal TB coverage cannot be achieved without the private sector.

“The private sector must be comprehensively engaged in the provision of TB and other care to Nigeria. Over the years the consistent cuts in TB budget will currently stand at 70 percent. For example wide scale implementation of innovative quality and indigenous based intervention across the country with significant number of people yet to be reached.
“We see that mostly treatment and preventing services. The value created in accessing TB services must be addressed for the country to reach the end TB target by 2030. We expect that the private sector engagement and plan being launched will help governance and public health resources required to end the epidemic in the country”, Mulombo noted.

In a presentation, the National Programme Officer for TB, WHO, Dr Amos Omoniyi, said Nigeria is among the 30 highest TB burden countries in the world, even as he blamed the huge funding gap on donor dependency, low treatment coverage, and limited access to diagnostic tools.

“Nigeria has the highest TB burden in Africa with an estimated 479,000 cases in 2022 (19 percent of the African burden. One person develops TB every minute and one person dies from TB every five minutes in Nigeria, even as 97,900 died from TB, this represent 23 percent of TB death in Africa

“We expect the private sector to mobilize domestic resources to address the current gap in TB budget, procure additional molecular WHO Rapid diagnostic tool to ensure 100 percent coverage of the LGAs/universal coverage with TB diagnostic tool.”

Quoting the National Strategic Plan for TB Control 2024 – 2026, Omoniyi said that Nigeria requires a total of $1.21 trillion to manage and control TB. He said from previous private sector investment in 15 facilities (one per state) in 2023, a total of 3,492 TB cases were recorded while 829 deaths were prevented over the period.

SOURCE: Vanguard