• Friday, March 29, 2024
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DFID launches £50m support for Nigeria’s Malaria Programme

malaria

The Department of Foreign International Development, DFID has launched a £50million Support for National Malaria Programme – Phase II (SuNMaP 2) in an effort to help change Nigeria’s malaria narrative.

Lunched under the guise of Malaria Consortium, SuNMaP 2, is a DFID funded bilateral programme with the overall focus on scaling up malaria programme intervention to achieve universal coverage of anti-malaria commodities and services for the prevention and treatment
of malaria.

SuNMaP2 would be implemented across 165 local government areas in six states of Nigeria, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, and Yobe.

The main targets of SuNMaP2 are reduction in all cause of under-five mortality rate from 128 in 2013 to 85 by 2022, reduction in proportion of children aged 6-59months infected with malaria parasites from 27% in 2015 to 16% by 2022.

Lola Mabogunje, said unlike SuNMaP, SuNMaP-2 is focused on sustainability and domestic financing of malaria with a total value of £34, 159,017million budgeted for commodities and an additional £12million for a period six years beginning December 28, 2018 till September 16, 2024, with 2023/2024 for end-line assessments.

Mabogunje said the purpose of SuNMaP-2 is to improve the planning, financing and delivery of sustainable and replicable pro-poor services for malaria in supported States as well as strengthened government stewardship at national level and in SUNMAP2 supported states.

She further explained that SuNMaP-2 will help increase sustainable availability of antimalarial commodities, more efficient and equitable malaria prevention and treatment services delivery, better informed citizens and institutions, provide an evidence base learning environment embedded in NMEP and SMEP respectively

“The purpose of SuNMaP-2 is to work with government leadership at all levels to appreciate and fund activities leading to elimination of malaria in both public and private sectors, as part of the
government’s overall poverty alleviation and economic development/UHC agenda.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole while launching Sunmap2, said it is gratifying that the efforts put into the control of malaria by the government, and other developmental partners and several global financing bodies have led to the significant reduction in the prevalence of the disease as shown by the national malaria indicator survey of 2015.

But he raised concerns that despite recorded success, Nigeria still accounts for 25percent of malaria cases globally, making it one of the highest burdened in the world, with nine states of the country in the Sahel region-kebbi, sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Katsina, Borno, and Yobe, heavily burdened with malaria transmission.

“The first phase of SuNMaP supported by UK Aid/DFID, was implemented in 2008-2016, with coverage of about one-third of the population at risk of malaria in Nigeria.

“The current programme, SuNMaP2 , seeks to achieve reduction of Nigeria’s malaria burden through more efficient and effective use of available resources, ” e said

The Minister appreciated the UK Aid/DFID for the support and implementation of SuNMaP2 led by Malaria Consortium, and encouraged partners to focus development support such that the gains from the programme efforts are sustained.

The Chief Executive, Malaria Consortium Nigeria, Charles Nelson, speaking further on the benefit of SuNMaP-2, said it will go a long way in changing the malaria narrative noting that malaria scourge is one of the most significant health issues.

He said there is therefore the need to reduce the burden significantly in the states, with a huge reduction in child mortality, and then move to elimination in the society.

“This is a programme in support of the government for the elimination of malaria, so it is the government program that we are supporting. We need support in the state by ensuring they use the resources they are given judiciously and effectively, we need domestic financing bases
through the planning systems which we hope to do at the right time.”

According to the National malaria Technical Director, and Professor of pediatrics, Olugbenga Mukuolu, SuNMaP-2 presents an opportunity essentially. The whole malaria landscape is fund by a mass movement because it is actually a mass movement, it involves government,
partners, it involves citizens.

“What has happened is that, the opportunities that Sunmap2 has is that it reduces some of the gaps in Malaria, via intervention. The approach they have also adopted is that they are hoping to work very contentiously with the government of the states that they will be participating in in order to guarantee for sustainability. But at the moment it offers opportunities for sustainability to redirect the malaria control to be on track, because in the last two years, we were gradually going off track due to inadequate resources,” said Mukuolu.

 

Oyin Aminu, Abuja