Health
Nigeria records gain in fight against tuberculosis amidst COVID-19 pandemic
Response to the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, data indicate that there has been an increase in annual tuberculosis (TB) case notification due to strategic intervention by the National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP), in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders working on TB control and elimination in Nigeria.
For instance, in 2020 a total of 138,591 cases were notified;15 % higher compared to 106,533 and 120,266cases notified in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Also, comparing first quarters of 2019, 2020, 2021 case notification are 28,823, 33,132 and 43,838 (32% increase in Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020) respectively.
Commending the collaborating organizations for their efforts, the National Coordinator, NTBLCP, Dr Chukwuemeka Anyike, says “the country is very impressed with the 2020 program performance despite the COVID-19 pandemic”.
He echoed that active TB case finding is vital in reducing the burden of the disease in the country because Nigeria has over 440,000 incident TB cases, and over 300,000 are estimated to be missed annually.
“This implies that with additional resources channeled towards TB case finding, scale-up of innovative strategies and a focused and targeted approach the country can actualize its goal of finding all missing TB cases and possibly ending TB in Nigeria” he continued.
Initiating result-producing results
In other climes, when the pandemic triggered lockdowns in March 2020, diagnosis and enrollment for TB treatment fell in many high TB burden countries. In Nigeria, the key component of the intervention began in the second quarter of the 2020 with WHO and partners integrating TB case finding into the COVID-19 structure in all outreach in 12 states (e.g., Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Osun, and Rivers States).
The response included training TB case officers’ /community informants on advocacy, house-to-house case search, contact tracing, and social mobilization for Tuberculosis and COVID 19. Effort to locate TB and Covid-19 cases included screening programme, laboratory services engagement with key community stakeholders in the 12 states, and services in the health facilities were intensified in collaboration with USAID-KNCV, using Genexpert and the ‘WOW’ Trucks.
In the cause of the search, 48 years old Mrs Oguejiofor C, living in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, was diagnosed of TB after a house to house visit by the TB case officers to her locality. She had been coughing severally for some months, experiencing weight loss, sweating at night and having constant fever.
“I am glad I heeded the advice of a health officer who came to sensitize people in my area about Covid-19 and TB during the Covid-19 lockdown. I approached her with my symptoms, and she said it could be TB and advised I visit the hospital where sputum and X-ray tests were conducted. I started treatment immediately, and I am already feeling better,” she said.
Unlike Mrs Oguejiofor, 25 years old Chimeze Kenneth Obi did not present any symptoms when diagnosed in May 2020. His case was notified by the TB/Covid-19 case officers on house to house search in Ogbaru LGA, Anambra state.
“I provided sputum sample for testing, and I was later informed of my TB status. I started treatment immediately. The treatment lasted for six months, and all the treatments were free. I am happy I was detected before it became a serious health problem”, he said while appreciating the government and WHO for the search initiative.
With early lesson from the recovery effort, all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have included TB in the covid-19 response to ensure that new cases detected are placed on treatment.
Speaking on the intervention, WHO National Professional Officer (NPO), Dr Moses Onoh says, “Tuberculosis is curable and preventable, yet millions of people are infected annually, with many unable to access diagnosis and life-saving treatment. WHO will continue to support governments at all levels to ensure that the Covid-19 management programme takes the advantage of the extensive structures and human resource capacity available in the TB control programme to increase detection, diagnosis and management of cases at the community level.”
The West African Society of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make clinical malnutrition a national healthcare priority, warning that the crisis is growing but remains largely overlooked in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
WASPEN’s Founder and President, Dr. Teresa Pounds, made this appeal on Monday during a press conference ahead of the 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference, scheduled for June 17–19 in collaboration with the National Hospital Abuja.
Themed “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care in Developing Countries,” the event aims to foster solutions for hospital and community malnutrition.
Describing malnutrition as “the skeleton in the hospital’s closet,” Dr. Pounds emphasised the need for urgent awareness, policy reform, and collaboration among healthcare stakeholders to ensure effective hospital nutrition programs.
“Many patients in Nigerian hospitals suffer from inadequate nutritional support, leading to prolonged hospital stays, increased complications, and higher mortality rates. This issue must be addressed at the highest level,” she stated.
The press conference was attended by the management of Genrith Pharmaceuticals Limited, a major partner, led by its CEO, Chief Emmanuel Umenwa.
Call for National Clinical Nutrition Policy
Dr. Pounds, a U.S.-based specialist in critical care nutrition and a board-certified nutrition support pharmacist, urged the government to implement a national policy framework to support specialised clinical nutrition interventions. She stressed the importance of integrating mandatory nutrition screening and intervention into all healthcare facilities.
She also called on the Federal and State Ministries of Health to expand and enforce standardised clinical nutrition policies, ensure hospitals conduct structured nutrition screening for all patients, makes medical nutrition therapy accessible and affordable, and support research and local production of specialised nutritional products.
She further encouraged NAFDAC, NIPRD, pharmaceutical companies, and NGOs to collaborate on research, funding, and product development to improve hospital and community-based nutritional care.
Invest in Africa’s food markets to win the war on hunger, boost nutrition – AfDB
“We need a national framework that ensures no patient suffers due to a lack of proper nutrition,” the expert stressed.
Conference to Attract Top Medical and Policy Experts
Speaking on the upcoming conference, Dr. Pounds noted that it will bring together leading medical experts, policymakers, and healthcare stakeholders to develop strategies for addressing malnutrition.
Prominent figures expected at the event include Prof. Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health (Special Guest of Honour), Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT (Chief Host), Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja (Host), Prof. Audu Bala, President, Nigerian Medical Association (Keynote Speaker), Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour), and Prof. Salisu Maiwada Abubaka, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) admiration.
Pre-Conference Activities
Prof. Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital Abuja, represented by the Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Pharm. Adesola Clara assured that the hospital has the necessary facilities and expertise to host a successful conference. He emphasised that the hospital is fully prepared for the programme.
Also, the WASPEN Central Planning Committee, led by Mrs. Ghinsel Blessing, revealed that pre-conference activities will include a hands-on training workshop on nutritional kits in hospitals, scheduled for June 16, a health walk to raise awareness about hospital malnutrition, expected to be led by First Lady Sen. Oluremi Tinubu.
With malnutrition posing a silent but deadly threat to healthcare outcomes, WASPEN hopes that the Tinubu administration will take decisive action to integrate nutrition-focused interventions into Nigeria’s health policies.
The 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference is expected to be a game-changer in shaping the future of clinical nutrition in Nigeria and West Africa.
Two US biotech companies say the Food and Drug Administration has cleared them to conduct clinical trials of their gene-edited pig kidneys for human transplants.
United Therapeutics along with another company, eGenesis, have been working since 2021 on experiments implanting pig kidneys into humans: initially brain-dead patients and more recently living recipients.
Advocates hope the approach will help address the severe organ shortage. More than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys.
United Therapeutics’s approval, announced Monday, allows the company to advance its technology toward a licensed product if the trial succeeds.
The study authorization was hailed as a “significant step forward in our relentless mission to expand the availability of transplantable organs,” by Leigh Peterson, the company’s executive vice president.
The trial will initially enroll six patients with the end-stage renal disease before expanding to as many as 50, United Therapeutics said in a statement. The first transplant is expected in mid-2025.
Meanwhile, rival eGenesis said it had received FDA approval in December for a separate three-patient kidney study.
“The study will evaluate patients with kidney failure who are listed for a transplant but who face a low probability of receiving a deceased donor offer within a five-year timeframe,” the company said.
Xenotransplantation — transplanting organs from one species to another — has been a tantalizing yet elusive goal for science.
Early experiments in primates faltered, but advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the field closer to reality.
Pigs have emerged as ideal donors: they grow quickly, produce large litters, and are already part of the human food supply.
United Therapeutics said trial patients would be monitored for life, assessing survival rates, kidney function, and the risk of zoonotic infections — diseases that jump from animals to humans.
Currently, there is only one living human recipient of a pig organ: Towana Looney, a 53-year-old from Alabama who received a United Therapeutics kidney on November 25, 2024.
She is also the longest-surviving recipient, having lived with a pig kidney for 71 days as of Tuesday. David Bennett of Maryland received a pig heart in 2022 and survived 60 days.
The Swiss government said Thursday it aimed to overhaul its law on medically-assisted reproduction to legalise egg donations and give broader access to sperm donations.
Currently egg donations are not allowed and only married couples can access sperm donations.
The Swiss parliament has long said it wants to change that, and has asked the government with coming up with a proposal to provide broader access.
A government statement said it had “decided to completely revise the law on medically assisted reproduction in order to adapt it to the current context” and had asked the interior ministry to draft a proposed law by the end of next year.
The government said it wants to legalise egg donations in cases where a woman in a couple is infertile, as a parallel to the already legal use of sperm donations in cases of male sterility.
Bern said its priority was “the protection of donors and the welfare of the child”, stressing that “this protection cannot be guaranteed if parents resort to egg donation abroad”.
The government also said it wanted to expand access to both egg and sperm donation to unmarried couples.
After Switzerland legalised same-sex marriage in 2022, married lesbian couples have also had access to sperm donations.
But the government said the current law barring unmarried couples from access to such medically assisted reproduction was “outdated and no longer corresponds to social reality”.
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