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Globally, the World Tuberculosis Day is celebrated every 24th March. The day is set aside to commemorate the significance of the prevalence of TB and need for concerted efforts to eradicate Tuberculosis.
Celebrating the 2023 World Tuberculosis Day, Oando Environment, Health, Safety, Security and Quality contributed its quota to the prevention and control of tuberculosis in Nigeria with a guest lecture on the title “Yes, we can end tuberculosis” delivered by Dr. Olubunmi Ogbodu, Team Lead for Tuberculosis Local Organising Network 3 (TB-LON3) Project sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development Agency (USAID).
A seasoned pharmacist and a Public Health practitioner with an interest in strengthening healthcare delivery systems, Dr Ogbodu has well over two decades of cross-cultural professional experience in public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in Nigeria and the African space.
According to Dr Ogbodu, USAID’s intervention led to increased awareness and advocacy of TB in the organised private sector and mobilization of domestic resources towards sustaining end-TB efforts. The private sector advocacy component of this project was implemented in Nigeria by Anadach Consulting Limited in partnership with the Institute for Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) and the Local Tuberculosis Organising Network.
Dr Ogbodu enumerated the achievements made on TB-LON3 project, which lasted over 30 months (2020 to 2023), to include mobilization of domestic resources to support TB awareness, advocacy efforts reaching over 2 million Nigerians through employee and family social networks, training of occupational health and safety staff for over 100 private sector firms. Others included the development of a workplace tuberculosis policy to safeguard the welfare of infected employees and reduce stigmatization in the workplace. According to her, the TB-LON3 project’s achievements included the training and partnership with professional associations such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Association of Chartered Cost Accountants, amongst others; to increase the awareness and sensitisation of TB in the workplace.
The significant achievements of the TB-LON3 project notwithstanding, Dr Ogbodu stressed the need for documentation, collaboration and continuity in the fight against tb. She maintained that the surveys and advocacies stages of the TB-LON3 project implemented the protocols developed by Dr Adebayo Awoniyi and his team on bovine tb advocacy and screening among livestock workers at Bodija Abattoir, Ibadan. According to her, Dr Awoniyi, then a medical corps member serving in Ibadan in 2014, collaborated with a team of veterinarians from the University of Ibadan in the fight against tb as a zoonotic disease. “The veterinary team had earlier isolated Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle among some livestock workers at Bodija Abattoir, Ibadan, while Dr Awoniyi’s team continued on sustained advocacy, screening and treatment of diagnosed tb patients” said Dr Ogbodu who therefore called for a collective effort among all health professionals to end tb in Nigeria.
Mr Timothy Odepe coordinated the questions and answer session with the guest lecturer and her team responding. At the event, other contributors to the topic were Dr Abideen Gbolahan and Dr Busola Shonowo, physicians and consultants with Anadach Consulting Limited. The session was rounded off with participants resolving to do more in the fight against tuberculosis with all affirming “Yes, we can end tuberculosis”.
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