The Nigerian government has said nine persons die of malaria every nine hours.
Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said this in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Monday, while leading a delegation of Advocacy Against Malaria to the Ogun State Government.
According to him, one out of every four persons having malaria in the world lives in Nigeria.
The Minister, who was represented by Timi Obot, the team lead for Advocacy Against Malaria, touched on the need to combat the disease in order to avoid uncontrollable death through malaria.
Quoting the World Report 2010, the Minister said Nigeria contributed 27 per cent to the malaria boarding and 23 per cent to the malaria death globally.
Obot, while reading a statement signed by the Minister, emphasised that malaria treatment services must not be interrupted in Nigeria to avoid complications.
He said, “Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria. It constitutes a huge epidemiological burden and continues to cripple the economic development in the region.
“At the state level (Ogun) malaria and prevalence has increased from about 15 per cent in 2015 to 22 per cent in 2018.
“We want to work harder to ensure that we achieve a parasite prevalence of less than 10 per cent and reduce mortality attributable to malaria to 50 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2025 which is the target we have set out in the National Malaria Strategic Plan (2021-2025)”
“We need to remind ourselves that currently, Nigeria contributes 27 per cent (58,850,600) to malaria boarding and 23 per cent (88.320) to malaria deaths globally (world malaria reports 2010).
“Children under age five remain the most vulnerable affected by malaria accounting for 67 per cent (272,000) of all malaria depth.”
The advocacy team also revealed that over three million Insecticide Treated Nets is to be distributed to the 236 wards of the 20 local governments of the state.
The distribution which will be taking place for 12 days shall be kicking off on 26th of August and ends on 6th of September.
According to Obot, Ogun state was selected out of the thirteen states highlighted for the distribution of mosquito nets which will be door-to-door to the grassroots with 500 distribution workers cutting across the 236 wards working for the period of 12 days.
The team was earlier received by Tomi Coker, the Commissioner for Health in Ogun State before proceeding to the Deputy Governor to seek support and tender their request for smooth distribution of Insecticide Treated Nets in the state.
The team inaugurated the Deputy Governor, Engr Noimot Salako-Oyedele as “Net Ambassador”.
Responding to the requests of the team, the Deputy Governor assured the team of a positive response.
She noted that all the team’s requests shall be tendered to the governor and she would feed them back on the state government’s decision in supporting the team.
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