NEPWHAN warns of a critical shortage of tuberculosis medicines and diagnostic tools in Nigeria, calling on the government to address funding gaps to prevent avoidable deaths.
The Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, known as NEPWHAN, has issued a dire warning regarding the current state of tuberculosis care in the country.
According to the organization, a severe shortage of TB medications and diagnostic tools is creating a public health emergency that places thousands of Nigerian citizens at significant risk. Abdulkadir Ibrahim, the national coordinator for NEPWHAN, highlighted that the government has failed to provide the necessary financing for TB programs and has neglected its counterpart funding commitments. This negligence is particularly alarming because Nigeria remains one of the nations with the highest burden of tuberculosis globally.
For those living with HIV, the situation is even more precarious, as TB continues to be the primary cause of death within this vulnerable population. The lack of consistent access to medicine transforms a manageable health condition into a lethal threat, undermining years of progress in infectious disease control. The scale of this crisis is supported by recent data collected through Community-Led Monitoring. Findings from NEPWHAN and its various implementing partners show widespread disruptions across health facilities.
Reports indicate that essential TB commodities are frequently unavailable, leading to the rationing of anti-TB drugs and a scarcity of laboratory supplies. Such interruptions lead to delayed treatment for new patients and broken continuity for those already in care. Data from the first quarter reveals a staggering 64.2 percent of monitored facilities suffered from stock-outs of at least one essential TB commodity, with Drug Susceptible TB CAT1 medicines being particularly scarce.
Furthermore, 58.2 percent of these facilities lacked GeneXpert diagnostic materials and sputum collection tools. Perhaps most distressing is that 43 percent of patients reported being told to return at a later date simply because the required supplies were missing. This systemic failure directly increases morbidity and mortality rates, threatening the overall control of the HIV epidemic in Nigeria.
Beyond TB, there is a growing concern regarding the availability of medicines used to treat opportunistic infections, especially for those battling advanced HIV disease. Patients are struggling to access treatments for conditions such as cryptococcal meningitis and severe bacterial infections. A supervisory visit conducted under the THRIVE Project underscored this crisis, noting that in states like Anambra, Benue, and Rivers, only a handful of facilities had the necessary opportunistic infection medicines in stock.
This is not merely a logistical error in the supply chain but a life-threatening catastrophe. When treatment is interrupted, the risk of developing drug-resistant strains of TB increases, which makes future treatment significantly more difficult and expensive. This cycle of unavailability and interrupted care ensures that the disease continues to spread within communities, endangering families and the broader health system.
While NEPWHAN acknowledged the support of the Global Fund, which aims to treat over 500,000 newly identified TB patients via its 2026 grant allocation, the organization insists that international aid is not enough. There is an urgent need for the Federal Executive Council to approve and release immediate funds for the procurement of these life-saving commodities. Abdulkadir Ibrahim emphasized that the deaths resulting from government inaction are not just statistics but are the loss of parents, children, and breadwinners.
He called for swift and decisive action from the federal government to prevent the total reversal of gains made in the fight against HIV and TB. The call is clear: the government must prioritize health funding to save thousands of lives and stabilize the healthcare infrastructure before the crisis escalates further and becomes uncontrollable
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