Kano CSOs advocate improved domestic funding for TB

Civil society and media actors under the umbrella of the Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Child Health in Kano state (AMMKas) Monday restated their commitment to more advocacies for domestic mobilization of resources for financing Tuberculosis in Kano state.

Kano is among the six states with the highest TB burden in Nigeria with 29,371 cases, all currently on treatment.

This was the outcome of a one-day orientation meeting aimed at sensitizing media and civil society actors on the basics of healthcare financing for Tuberculosis and the need for improved funding for TB in Kano state, organized by the Health Financing and Governance (HFG) project.

The Health Finance & Governance Project (HFG) is a six year global program of the United States Agency for International Development  (USAID) which strives to fundamentally strengthen health systems in ways that benefit all health services, including those for maternal and child health, malaria, and HIV and AIDS.

While speaking at the meeting, Muhammad Shuaib, the Kano state program coordinator for HFG urged media practitioners and CSOs to utilize all opportunities available to them to advocate for more funding for healthcare particularly Tuberculosis considering the strategic importance of funding healthcare service delivery.

“The global USAID-funded Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project is helping to improve health in developing countries by expanding people’s access to healthcare. Its support to Kano state is targeted at improving financing for tuberculosis response in Nigeria,” said Shuaib.

“The question now is what happens if the international donors decide to withdraw their funding? The government and policy makers need to increase funding for TB and reduce dependency on donors as their withdrawal will lead to high prevalence of the disease in the country.”

Participants at the meeting resolved to advocate for more funding for TB including creating awareness among the general public on the scourge and its various symptoms. Thus, an advocacy plan for domestic resource mobilization for TB was developed targeted at scaling up of public and private sector funding for Tuberculosis.