Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, yesterday said the House would take bold legislative action and increase funding to combat tuberculosis (TB), a disease that continues to pose a major public health threat in the country.

While declaring open the relaunch, Abbas described TB as a longstanding but often overlooked health crisis, stressing that urgent interventions are needed to curb its devastating impact.

He said: “Most of us started hearing about this scourge in our childhood, and after a while, it seemed forgotten, yet it remains one of the most deadly diseases affecting humanity today.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nigeria remains the seventh-highest TB burdened country globally and second in Africa, with 361,000 new cases recorded in 2023—a 26% increase from the previous year.

Worse still, 9% of these cases involved children, while 63,000 people living with HIV were co-infected with TB. Despite past efforts, including the establishment of the National TB and Leprosy Control Programme in 1989 and alignment with WHO’s global TB elimination strategies, the disease continues to spread.

The Speaker emphasized the urgent need for stronger awareness campaigns, improved healthcare infrastructure, and legislative measures to bridge the treatment gap.