From Yakubu Busari,Jos
The authorities of Bingham University, Karu, Benue State said it has secured the Department for International Development (DFID) funded research grant worth £1M to tackle tuberculosis .
This was contained in a statement signed by Daburi Misal , the Acting Director,Information and Protocol of the institution and made available to newsmen.
The statement reads in part; “A consortium of international, regional and national health research and policy organisations working in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and the UK are announcing a collaborative work on a new DFID-funded Research Programme to improve equitable access to tuberculosis (TB) services to reduce its spread.”
Misal further said that the work will also support the introduction and scale-up of new tuberculosis TB diagnostics, treatments and a vaccine as they develop to meet global targets to eradicate TB. ”
He quoted the Vice-Chancellor, Bingham University, Prof William Qurix, as saying, “This grant comes at a critical time when the world is focusing on finding a solution to the ravaging Covid 19, which challenges lung health”.
“We are certainly prepared to explore all components of this grant in line with the contract to look at the skewed gender burden of TB and HIV, and examine it closely, dispassionately and chart a novel approach towards addressing it collaboratively with stakeholders. We are delighted to have been awarded this funding by DFID. Through payment by results, we anticipate to deploy the £1m strategically over the coming six years in Nigeria.”
Also, “Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing rapid growth in cities where TB and HIV burdens are high. They also experience high levels of poverty and inequity, and there exist substantial gender gaps in disease burden,” explains Dr Eliya Zulu, Executive Director at the African Institute for Development Policy.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, attention and resources are bound to shift and this will see an increased burden in other lung health diseases, leaving the already vulnerable populations worse off. The situation calls for more sustainable interventions than we have had in the past. The new Research Programme hopes to achieve sustained acceleration in the attainment of global TB goals in sub-Saharan Africa by securing changes in policy and practice toward value-for-money, gender sensitive and pro-poor TB interventions.
