.

By Chioma Obinna

To boost treatments of Tuberculosis, TB, Anadach Group is partnering with the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award, NHEA, to recognise organisations in the private sector that have supported their TB LON 3 project in Nigeria.

The title of the special recognition awards that will be given to selected private organisations includes Most Outstanding Private Sector Advocacy Support for TB of the Year and the Honourable TB Advocacy and Impact Organisation of the Year,

Statistics from the World Health Organisation, WHO, global TB report showed that an estimated 440,000 people in Nigeria have tuberculosis each year.

Though curable and preventable, it accounts for an estimated 1.4 million deaths globally in 2019.

A major challenge in the TB response in Nigeria is low TB case detection as only one in four people with TB are diagnosed and poor coverage of TB screening, diagnostic & treatment services – less than 30 per cent of health facilities in the country provide TB services. Thus, it is critical to rapidly find and treat undiagnosed people infected with TB.

Given the high out of pocket payments in the country, the probability of catastrophic health expenditure due to TB is high.

Speaking on the development, the Project Lead Anadach Group explains, Dr Bunmi Ogbodu, said TB negatively impacts private businesses through the increase in absenteeism, and reduction in man-hours amongst others as businesses which do not prioritize it. It becomes imperative to use a differentiated model approach that is inclusive of the Private Sector Strategy as part of the means to strengthen the resilient and sustainable systems for TB control.

On his part, the NHEA Director of Marketing, Communication and Strategy, Mr Moses Braimah said: “We are happy with this collaboration on Tuberculosis. It will in no small measure help to reduce the overall burden of TB in Nigeria through multiple stakeholder collaboration and we believe that having specific awards on TB would be helpful in addressing the TB situation in Nigeria, particularly encouraging participation and support from the Private Sector.”

NHEA is an initiative of Global Health Project and Resources, GHPR, in collaboration with Anadach Group USA. GHPR is one of West Africa’s leading Healthcare Management and Consultancy Company, involved in the promotion of healthcare business in West Africa.