As part of their contributions towards the eradication of the malaria scourge in the country, Itel and Amatem Softgel have offered free malaria tests and drugs to over 500 residents of Dustbin Estate Ajegunle, Lagos.
The event was part of the organisations’ activities to mark the 2023 world malaria day with the theme, ‘Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement’, and it also witnessed counselling and distribution of mosquito nets to the community members by the organisers.
Speaking at the event, the head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and events management Itel, Taiwo Abdullahi explained that they decided to visit the community because the residents were vulnerable to mosquito bites due to the swampy nature of their surroundings.
Explaining further, she said: “If you look around, you will see the canal, toilet, animals staying with them, shanties, and terrible refuse disposal system. And we all know that mosquito thrives in dirty places. That is why we choose to be here. We had suggestions of many places, but when we got here, we realised that they are more vulnerable to malaria itself and they needed our help.”
On the reason for the partnership, Abdulahi said: “Itel is a notable smartphone brands, home appliances, accessories, and laptops manufacturers, while Amatem Softgel is one of the leading anti-malaria drugs in Nigeria.
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‘’While we are giving them mosquito nets, Amatem is giving malaria drugs to the people who are positive to malaria currently.”
Stating that their reason for commemorating the 2023 World Malaria Day with the community members of Dustbin Estate was to appreciate them as customers, she said: “We decided to mark this year’s world malaria day with the community because of our market strategy.
“We are for the mass market. We believe that people staying here are our people. So, this is a way of appreciating them as customers. Our 2023 world malaria CSR is to join the fight against malaria, and we hope that we will be able to help people go through malaria-free life.”
While describing malaria as one of the major challenges of healthcare in Nigeria, regional manager LB Pharma Nigeria Limited, Fikayo Oluboyode, said: “We took the initiative to partner with Itel to reach this community being the area that malaria thrives due to the way the environment is.’’
Maintaining that Nigeria has malaria issues, Oluboyode said the best fight against malaria is prevention. So, we will be educating them on how to keep the environment clean and also sleep in insecticide treated net, and to visit the hospital for test and treatment when they have malaria.”
Some members of the community who benefited from the programme, lauded the organisers of the event saying, “I appreciate their visit because my family and I are beneficiaries, Ibrahim Olatunji.’’
Also, Owolabi Kazeem expressed his gratitude towards the organisers for remembering them in such capacity and added that the drugs and treated insecticide nets given to them will go a long way in fighting against malaria plague in the community.
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