Walking down a dusty path in an active village near Kano in Nigeria, Halima Yusuf adjusts her headscarf. At 32, she has become a lifeline to her community, armed with a small device that is rewriting the story of tuberculosis (TB) in our most populous nation in Africa.
“Whenever my phone rings these days, I know I can actually help,” she said reflecting on her responsibilities as a community health worker. “We used to just see people suffering, but to get a diagnosis would mean that we would have to ask sick people to find the means to travel so far and spend the little money they had to wait several days for results.”
Statistics paint the grim picture of what lay ahead for Halima and her colleagues. Nigeria carrying 11% of the world’s burden of TB ranks 6th among all the countries reeling under the weight of having the highest burden of TB. In 2022, another grim truth faced the healthcare workers: only one out of four cases of TB were being diagnosed and treated, when more than half of Nigeria’s 200 million population lived in the rural areas. More; therefore,. This clearly hinted at how many were suffering in silence, living far from conventional health care.
Then, there was the call about a farmer and father, Musa, aged 38. “When I reached his home, I found a man who could barely stand,” recalls Halima. “His cough echoed through the rooms, and his wife’s eyes were filled with worry. In the past, I would have had to tell them to find somehow money and strength to travel to a distant hospital.”
Instead, Halima set a little testing machine upon Musa’s table – the Truenat testing system. “Within an hour we had an answer,” she states. “Musa had TB. We knew exactly what we were fighting.”
Such stories are being replicated all over Nigeria as more than 900 Truenat systems having been deployed nationwide. Battery-operated and conveniently portable- small enough to fit in a bag, the Truenat has been a blessing for the areas where electricity is unreliable and having a diagnostic laboratory seems like a distant dream. It detects TB in 60 minutes and identifies resistance to the commonest drugs in 90 minutes.
The ripple effects reach families and communities. For the children who constitute 7% of TB cases in Nigeria, distant diagnosis is a thing of the past. “When we can test children quickly, we can treat them before the disease takes control,” Dr. Aisha, a pediatrician in Kano, explains. “Every day saved in diagnosis is a day gained in a child’s life.”
The statistics speak for themselves; 87% of patients starting treatment based on Truenat results are seen to recover. This number signifies so much more beyond mere statistics. Musa’s own recovery is testimony to the great impact. “People see me working in my fields again,” he says; “and they understand that TB isn’t a death sentence anymore. When Halima comes to our village now, people aren’t afraid to get tested.”
That change comprises a lot more than health care. In communities that once stood firm against TB, quick testing and accurate diagnosis are now improving trust in health care. Community leaders who once regarded TB as a curse are encouraging youngsters to get tested. Mothers are bringing their children forward much sooner now that they know the results won’t keep them away from home overnight.
With 2035 in view, what seemed like a pipedream to end TB in Nigeria suddenly seems attainable. The task, however, is daunting—millions need testing and treatment—but workers such as Halima carry the hope of light with them, village by village, and patient by patient.
“Every time I use this device,” says Halima, watching the sun set in her community, “I think about all the grandpas who will see their grandchildren grow up, all the parents who will raise their kids, all the kids who will realize their dreams. That’s what this little machine really means for us.”
These small daily victories are gradually transforming healthcare in the heart of rural Nigeria, where the fight against TB continues. . They have shown that, indeed, with the best tools and the most dedicated people, even the mightiest challenges can be tackled, one test at a time.
