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((PLAYBOOK SLUG: COVID-Nigeria Tuberculosis TV
HEADLINE: Nigeria Sustains Tuberculosis Progress Despite Global Pandemic Setbacks.
TEASER:
PUBLISHED AT: Monday 03/22/21 at 8:45am
BYLINE: Timothy Obiezu
DATELINE: Abuja
VIDEOGRAPHER: Emekas Gibson
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): All VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV X RADIO
TRT: 3:14
VID APPROVED BY: wpm
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATE: A radio version will also be available))
((INTRO)) [[ Campaigners against tuberculosis, a bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs, say the coronavirus pandemic has rolled back years of progress in treating TB. But Nigeria â one of the countries hardest hit by the disease â has managed to maintain its progress, as Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.]]
((NARRATOR))
Francis Ekong was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the Asokoro Teaching Hospital in Abuja in September 2013.
He says he contracted the infection while attending a job interview in his hometown in Akwa Ibom State.
((Francis Ekong, Tuberculosis Survivor (In English))
"I suspected that I actually drank from a cup somebody used, somebody who is a patient because then I was just moving from one joint to another drinking."
((NARRATOR))
Ekong's family advised him to get his own apartment and isolate himself for treatment. It took months to get better.
((Francis Ekong, Tuberculosis Survivor (In English))
"The experience was a gory one, the pain, the sleepless nights, I was having heat in my chest, my ribs, not able to breathe very well."
((NARRATOR))
Nigeria is ranked among the top two TB burden countries in Africa and in the top eight globally, according to the World Health Organization.
An advocacy group, the Stop Tuberculosis Partnership, says global diagnosis and treatment of the disease dropped by 23 percent last year due to the pandemic, setting progress back to levels last seen in 2009.
But the group's latest report also notes Nigeria, unlike many other high burden countries, recorded a slight increase in TB diagnosis and treatment.
((Lucica Ditiu, Stop TB Partnership Director)) ((In English))
"The Nigerian government is between the very few that were able to keep the focus on TB in such a way that we looked at the numbers of Nigeria but we noticed that there's not a drop in the cases. So, they succeeded to maintain the level of 2019 and even a slight increase of around 8 percent in the number of people diagnosed and treated.â
((NARRATOR))
Officials say Nigeria achieved this increase by incorporating TB testing into the national COVID-19 response.
Itohowo Ukoh is a director at Nigeriaâs National Tuberculosis Control Program.
((Itohowo Uko, National Tuberculosis Control Program (In English))
"We have some machines, diagnostic tools like our gene expert machines. In some centers we now integrate the diagnosis of both and then the COVID-19, so when a person visits that center he will be treated for both TB and COVID-19.â
((NARRATOR))
This month President Muhammadu Buhari accepted a three-year grant of 890 million from foreign donors to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
Officials with Stop TB partnership say theyâre optimistic that even with the COVID pandemic yet to be tamed, Nigeria will continue to improve levels of tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment.
((Timothy Obiezu, for VOA News, Abuja, Nigeria ))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Expiration DateApril 10, 2021 07:52 EDT
Embargo DateApril 9, 2021 11:44 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
