Delta state government under the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, is set to distribute 3.5 million free mosquito nets to all the 25 council areas of the state using 17,000 trained personnel.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, who disclosed this at a media orientation on the Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) Replacement Campaign in Asaba on Wednesday, said the move was to curtail the scourge of malaria which is a killer disease among pregnant women and children under five.
The programme is in collaboration with the federal government and other partners.
Dr Ononye said the treated mosquito nets were supposed to be replaced every three years, but that the last in the state was in 2013 due to some unforeseen challenges.
Dr Ononye, represented by the State Malaria Elimination Programme Manager, Dr Francis Onojeta, said though malaria could be treated with Atemeselin Combination Terrapy (ACT), the most effective way to prevent the disease remained the use of LLINs, as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He said unlike in the previous campaigns the Cash and Asset Technology (CAT) would be deployed to ensure transparency and accountability in the distribution of the nets, adding that Net-Cards would be issued to people with which they would assess the mosquito nets.
The Health commissioner assured that necessary steps had been taken to ensure effective distribution of the LLINs and solicited the support of the media towards the success of the replacement campaign.
The state Commissioner for Information, Chief Patrick Ukah, represented by the Functioning Permanent Secretary of his Ministry, Mr Paul Osahor, noted that the LLINs replacement campaign could hardly succeed without the collaboration of the media.
He therefore urged media practitioners in the state to ensure adequate coverage of the campaign in order to reduce the malaria scourge to the barest minimum or possibly eradicate it from the state.
The state Malaria Elimination Programme Manager, Dr Francis Onojeta, gave a lecture on the objectives and expectation of the campaign, explaining the cause and treatment of malaria, as well as how the campaign would be prosecuted, while the Demand Creation Officer spoke on media orientation for the campaign.
The event featured a question and answer session.
