23 July 2008 | Abuja - The International Joint TB and TB/HIV monitoring mission (JIMM) begins work across all geopolitical zones in Nigeria today.

The 2008 mission is of particular importance because it is coming a year after the TB control programnme received the first $25M tranche of a Global Fund (GFATM) grant that will eventually total $65.2M. The team of 62 consultants will visit 14 states over a two week period to assess the implementation of TB control activities, in particular the implementation of the Stop TB strategy, and surveys of TB prevalence and drug resistance.

This year’s mission began on Monday 21 July with a briefing meeting at the Federal Ministry of Health. Representing the Minister for Health, Dr Ngozi Njepuome, Director of Public Health, welcomed the team and urged them to be frank in their assessment of the Nigerian TB programme.

The team, which comprises partners providing support for the National TB & Leprosy control programme in Nigeria, includes experts from WHO, USAID, CDC, PEPFAR, International Federation of Anti-leprosy Associations (ILEP), and Tuberculosis Control Assistance Programme (TBCAP) among others.

WHO is fielding nine National Programme Officers supported by three consultants, Dr Lana Velebit from WHO Geneva, Dr H Wembanyama from WHO Africa Regional Office and Dr Ineke Petter from TBCAP.

Dr Peter Eriki, WHO country representative, addressing the briefing meeting, reminded participants that ‘achieving set targets will require utilisation of innovative approaches if Nigeria is to reach global targets’. WHO provides support to strategic plan development, programme implementation and Monitoring and evaluation and Dr Eriki promised continued support to Nigeria in accelerating the country’s efforts to meet the global targets.

Dr Njepuome stressed the Government’s determination to be in the driving seat of the TB programme noting that the National TB Training Centre had received 250 million Naira of MDG funds. She also announced an initiative to improve stakeholder and partner coordination through the launch of a website for the Nigerian STOP TB partnership which will take place on 1 Sept, 2008 .

The JIMM mission will last until August 1st after which the team will present its findings to the Federal Ministry of Health.

Notes for editors:

WHO provides direct support to Nigeria’s National TB control programme in strategic plan development, programme implementation and Monitoring and evaluation. WHO also facilitates a TB partner’s forum.

WHO supports the Nigerian government by:

employment of 9 National Programme Officers to support the NTBLCP;
provision of technical support in all the thematic areas of the its STOP TB strategy, which include Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) expansion, combined TB and HIV, Multidrug resistant TB, drug logistics, data management and operational research);
ensuring continuous access of the National TB control programme to free quality anti-TB drugs from the Global Drug Facility (GDF) ;
supporting resource mobilization effort for TB control in Nigeria from bodies such as the Gobal Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, USAID and CIDA.
The last ten years has seen a re-emergence of TB in Nigeria due to increasing poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2006 Nigeria declared the TB situation a national emergency and launched a National Strategic Plan to cover TB control activites up until 2010.

Nigeria ranks 5th globally among the 22 high burden countries. The number of TB cases notified increased from 19,699 in 2002 to 86294 in 2007, however the case detection rate of 32% and the treatment success rate of 76% is still below the global target.

The TB burden is further complicated by high HIV prevalence of 4.4%, as measured in the 2005 sentinel survey. The emergence of multi-drug resistant TB which is not susceptible to the commonly available drugs is also a major concern, especially as capacity for diagnosis of MDR TB in Nigeria remains inadequate.