Focus:Tuberculosis in Nigeria

According to the Federal Government, over 460, 000 Nigerians currently suffer from tuberculosis (TB). Over nine million people are infected with the disease annually across the world. TB is an infection caused by a bacterium (germ) called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. it affects the lungs, but any part of the body can be affected. It's second to HIV as the leading infectious killer of adults worldwide and accounts for more deaths among women, especially in poor nations, than all other causes of maternal mortality combined. Its also the leading infectious cause of death among People Living with HIV/AIDS.


The problem with TB is the increase in drug resistant Mycobacterium strains which makes the infection more difficult to control/treat.While the rate of TB is stable or slightly fluctuates in many parts of the globe, the rate is still rising in many endemic areas where TB goes hand-in-hand with HIV/AIDS, and the effect of poverty in poor nations.

Factors that promote infection and its eventual graduation to disease includes poverty, crowded living conditions, poor sanitation, acute ignorance, alcoholism, HIV opportunistic infections and homelessness.Other conditions that could lead to TB are drug resistance, inadequate hospitals, live saving equipments and support. Smokers, particularly those that smoke weed are equally at risk.

Symptoms include prolonged cough for about two weeks( sometimes with blood), night sweat, weight loss, recurrent fever, tiredness and loss of appetite.

Nigeria, a country with about 150 million people is ranked fourth among countries with high TB prevalence and about 100,000 deaths are recorded annually. Reports shows that Lagos State has the highest number of TB recorded cases in Nigeria. This is perhaps due to the fact that lagos state is the most crowded city. In 2008 alone, the state had 10,000 infections which represent 11 per cent of overall figure for the country, followed by Kano which had 6,000 cases.

The Federal Government is partnering with foreign governments and non-governmental organisations to control the spread of the disease as well as eradicate it.


Photo credit: A.D.A.M

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Benin

Bruni-Sarkozy has become the ambassador for the Global Fund for HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The first lady of France has personally taken up the cause of protecting babies from becoming infected with HIV by their mothers at birth. There could hardly be a better, more important issue. She expresses real passion at the plight of women, who can be thrown out of doors by their husbands if they test positive for HIV (often it is the husbands who gave them the infection in the first place). And who could be anything but appalled at the thought that such women could then be double damned – by passing on the deadly virus to their children.

You can use beauty and celebrity to sell anything. Maybe Bruni-Sarkozy's will help to awaken the wealthy world to the tragedy of mothers with HIV and their babies.

Reference:

Photo: John Rae/The Global Fund

Sarah boseley, Guardian.co.uk