Nneka Ndubuisi , a member of the technical committee on Malaria National Elimination Programme, has said over 31 million estimated cases of malaria occurred annually in Nigeria.
The health expert stated this recently while presenting her speech at the 2020 ITNs media orientation on campaign against malaria in Kwara State.
According to her, Nigeria accounts for a quarter of Malaria burden in Africa, two of four persons having Malaria in the West African sub-region live in Nigeria and one out of five deaths from Malaria globally occur in Nigeria.
She says that despite Malaria being the most common preventable public health problem in Nigeria, yet it takes a lethal toll of 97 percent of Nigerians, especially children under five years of age and pregnant women.
Ndubuisi, posits that there is evidence of reduction in malaria prevalence in Nigeria, adding that the 2015 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey indicates 27 per cent prevalence as against 42 percent in 2010, saying that it was 22 per cent prevalence according to 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS).
“Evidence has shown that Nigeria accounts for nearly 110million clinically diagnosed cases per year, and an estimated 30 percent of child and 11 per cent of maternal deaths each year are due to Malaria.
“It is the commonest cause of absenteeism from schools, offices, farms, markets, resulting in lower productivity.
“Billions of Naira are lost to Malaria annually in the form of treatment cost, prevention and loss of man hours”, she said.
Earlier, Oluwatosin Fakayode, state Director, Public Health, who represented Commissioner for Health, Raji Abdulrazaq , disclosed that the state government under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq injected a sum of N82 Million counterpart fund to attract the project.
He stresses the need for households to have and sleep inside the net and enjoined journalists to promote use of ITNs during and after the campaign as part of corporate social responsibility.
Beeva Hua, of Society for Family Health spoke on the benefits of sleeping inside the net. When one uses, “you gain health, save life and money. Sleeping inside the net protects you from mosquitoes that spread malaria, it is easier and cheaper to hang the net than to treat malaria.”
He explains that the ITNs kill mosquitoes for three years if used properly by airing it under the shade to dry after washing, washing it with mild soap and not more than 4-5 times in a year.
The personnel to distribute the nets according to him have been trained on Covid-19 precautionary measures.
