House Committee on HIV, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control, Vows to work with Stakeholders to end the scourge

JONAS EZIEKE, Abuja

The House of Representatives Committee on HIV, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control has urged critical stakeholders in the health sector and private sector players to partner with the House Committee to find a lasting cure and end to these diseases tormenting the citizens of the country.

The House committee further stated that it is not unmindful of the challenges being faced by Nigerians in the fight against these ailments especially in the fight against the control of Malaria in the country which appears to defile solutions.

Chairman of the newly constituted committee in the green chamber of the National Assembly Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogar at a media briefing on Monday said that the committee will work with relevant stakeholders in the society to fight against malaria to ensure that monies budgeted for are used to the purpose for which they are made.

According to him, the World Health Organization  WHO said that four African countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria top this list with 31.3%, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 12.6%, Tanzania (4.1%) and Niger (3.9%)

He said: “I am aware that the WHO Global technical strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, which was updated in 2021, provides a technical framework for all malaria-endemic countries, including Nigeria.

“This document is expected to guide and support regional and country programmes on malaria control as they work towards control and elimination of malaria”.

The technical strategy includes reducing malaria case incidence by at least 90% by 2030, reducing malaria mortality rates by at least 90% by 2030, eliminating malaria in at least 35 countries by 2030

Other measures to be taken are preventing a resurgence of malaria in all countries that are malaria-free as well as the prevalence of fake malaria drugs which will be looked into to avoid further deaths recorded.

The committee said that they will carry out our oversight functions to ascertain the role of primary health care in the Roll Back Malaria Programme.

Nigeria is a country in need of protection from malaria. Its death toll from the disease makes up nearly a third of the world’s 619,000 malaria deaths a year.

The House Committee noted that the immediate past Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire was quoted during the 2023 world malaria day that an estimated 55 million cases of malaria with nearly 90,000 malaria deaths occur every year in Nigeria.

He was also quoted to have said that the economic burden of malaria in Nigeria is estimated at $1.6b (N687bn) in 2022 and may increase to about $2.8bn (N2tn) in 2030.

These statistics are scary and there is a need for urgent attention by the House Committee and all other critical stakeholders to end their score.

The Labour Party LP lawmaker said that the committee will partner with USAID, WHO, UNAID, Bill, and Melinda Gate Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Global Fund for Malaria Control, Society for Family Health among other stakeholders in ensuring that malaria is eradicated in the country or reduced to the barest minimum.

They would also ensure adequate implementation of legislation geared towards the eradication of malaria in the country. Where such legislations are not adequate, we will work to provide the needed amendment to such existing legislation for the general good of the Nigerian people.

To achieve this they will also be working with  Ministries, Departments and Parastatals to also ascertain the level of awareness and sensitization created in Nigeria including the National Orientation Agency, NOA, NAFDAC, Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, Ministry of Health among others.

The committee expresses worries over the WHO report on HIV/AIDs that the disease remains a major global public health issue, having claimed over 32.9 and 51.3 million lives so far with ongoing transmission in all countries globally.

The WHO he submitted has also expressed concern that some countries are reporting increasing trends in new infections which was previously on the decline globally adding that Nigeria is not left out of this trend.

There is a global lamentation that there is still no cure for HIV infection. However, with access to effective HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care, including for opportunistic infections, HIV infection has become a manageable chronic health condition, enabling people living with HIV to live long and healthy lives.

The mandate of sensitizing the people falls on NACA which is one of the agencies we will oversight. We will work to strengthen the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country. We will ensure that the National Agency for the Control of AIDS is strengthened through legislation and funding to be in a better position to deliver on its mandate, while also ensuring accountability and probity.

While Nigeria continues to fight the spread of HIV, AIDS, the House is worried about the level of awareness on the prevailing spread of the disease hence the need to work towards carrying out oversight functions on MDAs under the purview of the Ministry of Health saddled with this responsibility as well as international partners with a view to finding a lasting solution.

The world body according to the House Committee had said that the situation in Nigeria necessitates a continuous strategic intervention by the federal government. the WHO and partners to reduce the burden of the disease in the country by 2030.

As such, as a committee, we will ensure adequate oversight of all agencies under its purview, while also strengthening the fight against Tuberculosis in the country.

For a better society

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