Wife of Abia State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu has been invested as Tuberculosis Champion and Ambassador. This was contained in a press release by the Chief Press Secretary, Office of the Wife of the Governor, Mr. Chika Ojiegbe.
The investiture took place at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja where Mrs. Ikpeazu was decorated by the Nigerias First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari.
According to the release, the wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari, while performing the Investiture said her choice of Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu as TB Champion was determined by the latter’s sense of responsibility and commitment to “ensuring the health and wellbeing of our people”.
Hajia Aisha Buhari said that she would work closely with Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu and other wives of Governors in order to address global, regional and national challenges presented by the disease.
As TB Ambassador, Mrs. Ikpeazu would help create awareness, mobilize stakeholders, and advocate for more funding, advocate for the scaling up treatment centres and strengthening of TB screening structures in the state.
Responding, Mrs. Ikpeazu pledged to discharge her new assignment with the vigour and dedication which she has shown in all endeavours she had pursued.
It would be recalled that Hajia Aisha Buhari and her Foundation ‘Future Assured Programme,’ has worked successfully with Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu’s Vicar Hope Foundation on several programmes that bordered on nutrition, maternal and childcare, as well as care for internally displaced persons.
The release noted that Tuberculosis (TB) is currently the number one infectious killer disease globally and ranks amongst the top 10 causes of death worldwide. Though preventable and treatable, about 160,000 Nigerians including women and children die from TB related complications every year. Last year, Nigeria had 418,000 TB cases.
Low case detection, inadequate treatment, lack of adequate knowledge and low awareness creation are major problems escalating TB spread in Nigeria. The Nigerian First Lady is leading an ambitious new programme to drive down the number of new infections and mortality, as Nigeria carries the highest disease burden in Africa.
