Akwa Ibom promises inclusion of TB care in 2025 budget

The Head of Budget, Budget Office of Akwa Ibom State Government, Mr Otu Asuquo, has promised to ensure the inclusion of Tuberculosis (TB) as a-stand-alone item in the state’s 2025 budget.

Asuquo gave the assurance when a civil society organisation, Policy Alert, paid him an advocacy visit for implementation of the TB project, initiated in partnership with Palladium Group and supported by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.

He said his office, which he described as a collation centre in the budgeting process, would ensure the input of TB so that the disease can be effectively managed and tackled by the state government.

Asuquo said, “You came at the right time because we are about starting the process of preparation of 2025 budget. By next week, we’ill start the engagement with the MDAs ofcourse we are like a collation centre, I’ve taken note of this, if they didn’t make such provisions I’ll definitely remind them, so I want to assure you that there’s going to be a line budget for TB.”

Earlier, the Programme Officer and Project Lead of Policy Alert, Edidiong Dickson, observed that TB is not getting required funding and priority despite the fact that it is a leading cause of death after COVID-19.

He regretted that the burden of funding the care and medications as well as the infrastructure for TB lies mostly on donors, adding that domestic resources for it accounts for a paltry six percent.

He said such commitment from government was too minimal and unsustainable, and appealed to local actors or government to commit more resources to the fight against TB in Akwa Ibom.

He added that the essence of the call for state ownership and funding of TB by giving it a budget line was for a holistic fight against the disease, incase the international donors withdraw their support.

“The burden of funding Tuberculosis lies mostly on donors. Domestic resources for this account for just 6 percent which is not sustainable, so a change in government may lead to a change in focus, the US government may wish to withdraw their support, so for us to prepare for that dooms day, we have to encourage our local actors, our government to begin to commit more resources to the fight against TB,” he said.