The Tuberculosis Unit, Anambra State Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, WHO, has solicited the partnership of National Orientation Agency, NOA, Anambra State Directorate, to embark on an aggressive campaign against tuberculosis in the State.
The State Programme Manager, Dr Chukwulobelu Ugochukwu made this disclosure while briefing newsmen shortly after a meeting with the Director of National Orientation Agency, Anambra State, Barrister Charles Nwoji, at the agency’s headquarters in Awka.
Dr Chukwulobelu said the essence of the meeting was to galvanize the support and collaboration of the National Orientation Agency and the media in mobilizing the people of the State for effective campaign against tuberculosis.
Revealing that Anambra State has a high burden of tuberculosis and recorded one thousand and two cases of the disease in the last quarter of 2020, the TB Programme Manager expressed the readiness of his team to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that ndi Anambra know everything about the disease.
Also, the WHO TB Surveillance Officer in charge of Anambra State, Chukwuebuka Ugwu, expressed strong displeasure over people’s high level of ignorance and misconception about the disease, which he described as the oldest disease known to man.
He stressed that tuberculosis is curable and its test, as well as treatment free, and enjoined ndi Anambra to access TB services from any Primary Healthcare facilities in the State, even as he solicited the support of wealthy individuals in the State, adding that the fight against tuberculosis is capital intensive.
Responding, the State Director of National Orientation Agency, Barrister Nwoji, pledge total support of the agency to the health bodies and the people of the State, noting that the assistance of his agency for the campaign against tuberculosis is necessary and should be sustained to win the war against the age- long disease.
He assured that the agency’s field officers would soon be trained on all about tuberculosis to enable them to mobilize and educate the people in a way to internalize the knowledge of tuberculosis, its characteristics and signs, among others.
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