The First Lady of Kwara state and Founder, Ajike people's support center Amb Dr Mrs Olufolake Abdulrazaq has stressed the need to intensify sensitization and awareness in combating tuberculosis in the state.

Amb. Abdulrazaq stated this at an event organized by the state Ministry of Health to commemorate the 2022 World Tuberculosis Day on Thursday 24th March 2022 at the G.pinacle Hotel Ilorin.

Ambassador Olufolake Abdulrazaq who is the TB Advocacy Ambassador for the state described this infectious and curable disease as 'deadly' with over 4,100 death records and close to 28,000 infected people on a daily basis.

The First Lady commended the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq for prioritizing the health and wellbeing of the people of the state and further called for more synergized efforts for sustainable sensitization strategy toward ending the spread of the disease in the state and country at large.

In his address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Razaq Raji explained that the observance of the year's World Tuberculosis Day which is themed 'Invest to end TB; saves lives is aimed at raising more awareness and also advocating for increased funding for TB control so as to stem the alarming rate of the spread of this killer disease.

Also in his welcome address, the state's TB control program manager, Dr. Muhammed Abdulrasheed quipped on the need to combine forces in eradicating this menace as it is a critical issue that needs collective intervention.

The guest lecturer, Dr. Gafar Alawode explained the alarming rate of TB in Nigeria with a wide funding gap as there have been 155,000 deaths recorded out of over 418,000 people that fell ill with TB. He further stated that Kwara is on the right track as targeted provisions have been made for the people of the state to have easy access to health care facilities through various initiated health schemes.