WHO organises public-private mix summit on TB Control

• Collaborates with Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria, Chevron and others

 

A National Summit on Public-Private Partnership for Tuberculosis (TB) Control in Nigeria will kick off Monday to discuss how to effectively engage the private sector in efforts to end the menace of Tuberculosis which kills 18 Nigerians every hour. Forty-seven Nigerians also develop active TB, seven of which are children, every hour.

The Summit, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Stop TB Partnership Nigeria and other stakeholders will hold at Sheraton Hotel Lagos on September 3rd and 4th 2018, to provide a platform for governments, private sector, corporate organizations, private health provider umbrella bodies to discuss and agree on strategies for engagement in TB control in Lagos state.

According to the press release available to Nigeria Health Online, NHO, the stakeholders will also discuss way forward as well as develop road map for private sector engagement in tuberculosis control with a view to finding the missing TB cases. It is expected that the private sector will support government efforts in TB Control in Lagos State and Nigeria at large.

Tuberculosis, a disease that is preventable and curable but the burden of the disease in Nigeria is further fuelled by the huge number of undetected TB cases which serves as pool of reservoir for the continuous transmission of the disease. Each undetected TB case has the potential of infecting 10-15 persons in a year.

The Summit will be declared open by the Honourable Commissioner of health Lagos State, Dr. Jide Idris, while the Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, will deliver the keynote address. Participants expected at the meeting include Heads and Corporate Social Responsibility Units of various companies from different sectors including Oil and Gas; Banking; Telecommunications; Pharmaceutical companies; Foods and Beverages; Entertainment industries, as well as Associations of the Private Health Sector. International and Development Partners from different organizations will also be attending the event.