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The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dr Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, has said the state government was committed to bringing an end to preventable deaths from tuberculosis.

Sanwo-Olu, who said this on Tuesday during an awareness walk to celebrate the 2021 World Tuberculosis Day with the theme, ‘The Clock is Ticking,’ noted that Lagos was determined to change the narrative of high tuberculosis prevalence in the state.

The governor’s wife said the government had expanded tuberculosis directly observed treatment short-course centres to 1,257 in 2020, adding that with support from global funds, training was conducted for community care workers to provide quality tuberculosis care, procured and deployed 18 x-ray machines to health facilities and provide 31 GeneXpert sites in the state’s 20 local government areas.

She said, “It is germane to state here once again that tuberculosis is preventable, curable, and the treatment is free. It has become pertinent to increase general awareness, ensure effective service delivery, including diagnosis, treatment, and care by improving access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services.”

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The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who said tuberculosis was a silent killer, noted that the state government was actively managing tuberculosis across the 27 general hospitals, over 300 primary health care facilities and numerous private sector facilities.