By Norbert Fidelis
Concern For Women And Youth Empowerment (COWOYEM), in partnership with SCALE Palladium, has organised a 1-day sensitization workshop for CSOs, Media Organisations and the Private Sector on how to Enhance Advocacy Strategies For Tuberculosis Funding. at Orchid Hotel, Asaba.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of COWOYEM, Mrs. Tessy Enahoro, said, “The programme is a pilot project being implemented in five States, namely, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Imo and Cross River.”
Also speaking, the Delta State Programme Officer on Tuberculosis, represented by Mr. Goodluck Imoyero, described Tuberculosis as an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, which can be transmitted through droplets, sneezing and cough from an infected person.
He added, “Other causes include ,animals and their bye-products, such as unprocessed cow milk.”
Speaking further, Dr. Imoyero highlighted some of the symptoms associated with the disease to include cough, fever, sweating at night, loss of appetite and tiredness, noting that everybody is at risk of contacting the disease.
He lamented the non-availability of facilities to tackle the disease in the state as patients who are drug resistant have to be taken to Port Harcourt or Ibadan for treatment, adding that delay in the treatment of TB can lead to death.
He further noted that “Delta State has a capacity of just one Gene expert per local government ,which is grossly inadequate to tackle the scourge of the disease in the State.”
Dr. Imoyero added, “Nigeria is 6th in the world among the countries that have TB and Ist in Africa, with statistics of 219 infected persons out of every 100 thousand,” stressing that the data puts the country in a precarious situation.
He also noted that Delta State has a total of 15,823 infected cases out of which 2, 372 are children.”
He then urged the Media and CSOs to help raise more awareness for the deadly disease through continuous sensitization and workshops.
Also speaking, a representative of Policy Alert, which is the ‘anchor organization’ for the programme, Mr. Koko Udoh, said, “The essence of the roundtable meeting is to incorporate ways to seek better funding for TB as well as fast track the release of funds from government,” adding that most times, all the money meant for TB programmes are not released by the government.
He tasked the CSOs to take a collaborative approach and educate the people about the dangers of the disease, even as he tasked the media on increased coverage and reporting of the disease through radio jingles, feature articles and the social media channel.
The programme was sponsored by the United States Agency For International Development (USAID), and COWOYEM is the ‘Implementing Partner’ for Delta State.