Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, has donated N1 billion through the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) to support the fight to end the Tuberculosis epidemic in Nigeria by 2030.
Mrs Tinubu made the donation Thursday during her investiture as the Global and National Stop TB Champion at the State House in Abuja.
According to a statement signed by Mrs Tinubu’s media aide, Busola Kukoyi, other first ladies from the 36 states were also honoured as Stop TB champions in their various states.
Mrs Tinubu, a former lawmaker, also dedicated the investiture “to Daniel, one of my staff, who unfortunately lost his life to the disease and to others who we have lost just like him by remaining silent”.
“Starting from now, let us work together by showing compassion, and understanding to end stigma and discrimination”.
According to the World Health Organisation, TB is a disease caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affects the lungs.
WHO said a total of 1.3 million people died from TB in 2022, including 167,000 people with HIV. Globally, TB is the second leading infectious killer disease after COVID-19 (above HIV and AIDS).
Nigeria is ranked sixth and first country with a high burden of TB in the world and Africa respectively.
