World Malaria Day: Malaria cases on decrease in Borno- commissioner

AHMED MARI, Maiduguri

The Borno state government said that cases of Malaria has decreased in the state as a result of the concerted efforts of state government, World Health Organisation, UNICEF and other supporting partners. He said that Malaria free society is achievable, because Malaria in the past three years has been on the decrease in the state..

Speaking at a press conference to Mark 2024 World Malaria Day, which held at the EOC Centre, Maidugurii on Friday, the Borno state commissioner for Health and Human Services, Prof Baba M Gana said “In Borno State, Persons diagnosed of Malaria in 2023 stood at 527,305 with 15,036 being severe cases, figure for 2022 stood at 600,141 with 13,492 being severe cases figure, 2021 stood at 714,904 with 20,774 being severe cases –District Health Information Software (DHIS-2) routine data. These figures show that, there has been a downward trend in cases of Malaria in the past 3 years (2021, 2022 & 2023) in Borno State.”

.” The theme of this years commemoration is “Accelerating the fight against Malaria for a more equitable World”, while the slogan is “Lets change the narrative now!” the theme voices out our commitment to the achievement of a malaria-free Nigeria while the slogan tells us that we can all take action and celebrate the successes attained in malaria control over the past years and end discrimination. In addition, it provides a clarion call for all to commit themselves to advocate and solicit for support for more resources and commodities and inter-sectorial collaboration to fight malaria, Prof GAna said.

The commissioner said ” it gives me a great pleasure to address you today on the commemoration of the 2024 World Malaria Day (WMD). As you are all aware on April 25th, 2000, during the African Summit on Malaria about 50 African heads of Governments met in Abuja and committed themselves to intensive efforts to combat the scourge of malaria. It was termed The Abuja Declaration. In that meeting they agreed to use the 25th of April of every year to draw attention to the menace of malaria and to solicit support for its control.”

He further said ” the meeting initiated the African Malaria Day celebration until the World Health Assembly (WHA) at its 60th session in 2007 instituted the World Malaria Day Celebration. Since then, the day is commemorated every year on April 25th to create awareness about the ancient disease and the devastating impact it has on the lives of more than 3 billion people around the World.”

He said that malaria is still a public health challenge. According to the World Malaria Report and Nigeria still accounts for more than 25% of the global malaria burden and 19% of global malaria deaths

” The Government of Nigeria through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and Borno State Government under the able leadership of His Excellency Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, through the Ministry of Health in collaboration with partners have made tremendous impact and achieved remarkable targets in the implementation of various interventions”, he added.
.

,” I am pleased to imform you that, the state malaria elimination program has yielded better results as recently seen in the National Malaria Indicator Survey (NMIS) -2021 findings, Net ownership by household was 70.4%, Net use by Household was 36.7%, use by Children Under 5-years of age was 55.8%, Net use by pregnant women was 56.6%, Pregnant women who received Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp) at least once was 78.7%, prevalence of malaria in children under 5 by RDT was 18.6%.
The state has had 7 rounds of uninterrupted Seasonal Malaria Chemo-prevention (SMC) intervention between 2017 and 2023 through the support of Nigeria Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), World Health Organization (WHO) and Malaria Consortium (MC) where over 2,000,000 children 3month to 5 years of age were reached every year.” he added.

Prof. Gana said they wittnessed an uninterrupted supply of antimalarial commodities, especially the supply of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, Artemesinin Based Combinaition Theraphy (ACTs) and Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) free-of-Charge to Pregnant women and chidlren under 5 and to newly resettled communities across the the State over the years, stressing that the State Government has finalised the engagement of a man Non-Govermental Organization (NGO) to provide comprehensive Malaria services free-of- charge across the State on behalf of the State Government.

He commended the Role Back Malaria (RBM) partners in the state. particularly,the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, MSF, INTERSOS, Mentor Initiative, Malaria Consortium (MC) and other Implementing Partners; through for their robust support, lives have been saved and assured that the State Ministry of Health through the State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) will continue to count on the teamwork, technical and financial support of various implementing partners that have enabled the state to attain its current success on malaria elimination efforts and that tempo needs to be sustained..

In his goodwill message, the state coordinator WHo, Dr Ibrahim Salisu said the WHO and other partners are committed to working with the Borno state government to ensure makary and others disease are eliminated in the state and the country at large.

He commented the collaboration between the Borno state government and the donor partners in the state and assured of their continued supy to roll back makaria in the state.

Dr Salisu said Malari is a global health challenge, as it’s remains a leading cause of mortality, as such there is need for concerted efforts to collectively support the malaria free society.