When health workers took the Tuberculosis (TB) testing outreach to Rigasa community, Kaduna State, Rabi Umaru, a 37-year-old housewife, did not need much convincing to get tested.
She had been coughing for two weeks but had not visited any health facility because of lack of funds.
“I usually hear on the radio that if you cough for two weeks, you should go to the health facility to test for TB. I eventually tested for TB and COVID-19 during the community outreach, and after testing negative for COVID-19, I used the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. Leaving here, I will lend my voice to mobilize other women in the neighbourhood to come out and benefit from the free TB and COVID-19 testing as well as receive their COVID-19 vaccine,” she said.
Tuberculosis and COVID-19 share similarities despite being caused by different biological agents. Worldwide, TB is one of the highest causes of death from a single infectious disease, and in the past two years, nearly all countries, including Nigeria, have felt the impact of COVID-19, resulting in a global health crisis with over 595 million people infected and above 6.45 million deaths as of 14 August, 2022.
High disease burden
For now, Nigeria has the highest burden of TB in Africa and ranked sixth globally. Worried about the low turnout of testing against the two deadly diseases, the Kaduna State Government collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to initiate, plan and conduct a two weeks integrated mass TB and COVID-19 screening campaign across the 23 Local Government Areas in the state. The outreach was also leveraged to expand the COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
Two high-risk communities from each LGAs were selected based on reviews data on the burden of TB and COVID-19 infection, population density and the testing rates in the state.
Intervention
Emphasizing the importance of the campaign, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Health, Dr Amina Baloni, said the outreach is apt to tackle the rising cases of COVID-19 and TB and improve the low population coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in the state.