Nigeria is dealing with the largest divide in Africa between estimated tuberculosis infections and patients who are actively found and treated, according to Daily Trust.
The alert was raised by Professor Bertie Squire, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom. He spoke during a memorial lecture put together by Bingham University's Zankli Research Institute to remember the late Professor Lovett Lawson and Professor Luis Cuevas as the centre marked its 10th anniversary.
Squire noted that men represent a critical group needing focused attention, as they are responsible for roughly two-thirds of tuberculosis transmission across the African continent. He also pointed out that children, people living with HIV, poor homes, and residents in rural and peri-urban settlements need urgent intervention.
To tackle the spread, Squire explained that health systems must pair better diagnostic tools with prompt patient access. He mentioned scientific evidence showing that collecting two sputum samples within a single day delivers accuracy matching the old practice of taking three samples across multiple days, saving patients time and money. He added that modern molecular testing can now yield results in 45 minutes to one hour with over 90 percent sensitivity.
Community-level work is already testing these solutions. Squire highlighted the Light Consortium, a collaboration involving Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, and the UK, which runs screening directed at men using male champions and mobile X-ray vans. He also mentioned the Start4All consortium, which tracks down infections overlooked by standard health facilities.
At the gathering, Bingham University Vice-Chancellor Professor Haruna Kuje Ayuba praised Lawson as an inspiring mentor and visionary who helped set up the laboratory behind the institute.
Sharing the institute’s history, Director Associate Professor John Samson Bimba recalled how Lawson started the initial lab in an Abuja basement during the early 2000s alongside the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. That early setup secured an MGIT machine that boosted local drug-resistance testing and backed the National Tuberculosis Programme, evolving into the full-fledged research institute operating today.
