The House of Representatives Committee on Infectious Diseases has held a one-day public hearing at the National Assembly, Abuja on key bills aimed at strengthening response to infectious diseases, including the proposed Tuberculosis Rights Bill.
The public hearing, chaired by Hon Mark Esset, representing the chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, Hon Amobi Godwin Ogah, provided an opportunity for legislators, government institutions, civil society organisations, health experts, TB survivors, affected communities, development partners and members of the public to make submissions on the bill before the committee.
The bills considered at the hearing included the Bill for an Act to Make Provision for the Prevention of Tuberculosis-based Discrimination and the Protection of the Fundamental Human Rights and Dignity of People Living With and Affected by Tuberculosis.
In his welcome address, the chairman noted that the public hearing was convened to allow stakeholders and the public to express their views on the merits and gaps in the proposed legislation.
He described the TB Bill as an important intervention aimed at giving Nigerians living with and affected by TB a sense of belonging by protecting their fundamental human rights and preventing discrimination and stigmatisation.
The committee chairman further observed that Nigeria has long had a legal gap in the protection of the rights and dignity of persons affected by TB which has contributed to low testing, poor diagnosis and weak protection for affected persons.
Key government ministries supported the passage of the bill, while calling for targeted amendments to make it more comprehensive and implementable.
The memorandum submitted on behalf of the Ministry and NTBLCP noted that stigma is not a peripheral social issue but a driver of late presentation, poor treatment outcomes, poverty, social exclusion, and continued transmission.
A key recommendation was that the bill should be expanded from a TB-only framework to an integrated protection law for persons affected by tuberculosis, leprosy and buruli ulcer.
The programme noted that all three diseases fall within the Ministry of Health mandate and are associated with stigma, exclusion, disability and discrimination.
It further recommended that the bill should address technical and biomedical accuracy, testing and screening safeguards, healthcare worker protection, duties of persons affected by TB, implementation accountability and operational safeguards.
Lawyers Alert, a leading Nigerian rights organisation working at the intersection of rights and health, also made a strong case for the bill to be strengthened as a human rights instrument.