World Malaria Day: Stakeholders call for more efforts to eliminate disease

 

.Nigeria’s strategy  reducing prevalence – official

 

 

As the world marks the 2022 World Malaria Day (WMD), some stakeholders have called

for conscious efforts to end malaria disease in the country.

 

The stakeholders made the call on Monday in Abuja at a Malaria Basketball Exhibition game and clinic.

 

The game, organised by stakeholders comprising PanAfricare, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and ExxonMobil,

was in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP).

 

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the partners are collectively implementing a project under the name “Power Forward”

since 2013 in the FCT, Abuja.

 

The Project Manager of Power Forward, Mr Terfa Akpoyibo, said the choice of basketball to convey malaria elimination message

was because of the correlation between basketball game and malaria through the “Nets”.

 

According to him, basketball uses nets to count points in the game, while malaria prevention also uses net as a preventive measure

to free oneself from mosquito bite.

 

He added that “one of the surest ways to prevent malaria is to sleep inside the net, so there is a correlation between the two nets.

Malaria is prevented through bed net and net is used in basketball to count for points.’’

 

Dr Patrick Adah, the Country Director, PanAfricare Nigeria, said that the Power Forward project was currently being implemented in

40 schools of the FCT.

 

He added that the project had reached out to over 292,000 people with malaria prevention messages.

 

He said “panAfricare arouses interest of students in public health interventions, making them public health champions and

today, they are all malaria champions.

 

“Through this Power Forward project, we have reached over 292,000 people with malaria prevention messages in schools and communities.

 

“We have engaged about 3,600 in-school students in public health awareness and life skill education in the FCT.

 

“The Malaria Exhibition Game has proved that with coordinated efforts by everyone, malaria can be eliminated in Nigeria.”

 

Gbemisola Abudu, NBA Africa Vice President, also said that the Power Forward project had been able to impact the lives of people in

Abuja through the basketball game by creating awareness on malaria.

 

Abudu, who is also the Country Head, NBA Nigeria, commended ExxonMobil, PanAfricare and the malaria partners for making the

malaria basketball game a reality.

 

She added that it was important to raise awareness about malaria since it had been recognised as a killer disease.

 

According to her, malaria affects the youth largely and if the youth must attain their potential in life, there is need for them to have good health.

 

She said that the basketball malaria game was all about educating students to prevent the disease, as well as raising awareness generally about

the killer disease and to have enough information about it.

 

Dr Perpetua Uhomoibhi, the National Coordinator of NMEP, urged Nigerians to play their part to ensure malaria was eliminated in the country,

saying that government cannot do the work alone.

 

She stressed the need for clean environment to avoid breeding of mosquitos, being the transmitters of the disease. (NAN)

Also, Dr. Asuquo Ekwe, Director General, Cross River Roll-Back Malaria office, on Monday, said Nigeria’s two-pronged approach in the fight against malaria had reduced the prevalence of the disease.

Ekwe disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar while commemorating the World Malaria Day.

World Malaria Day is marked annually on April 25 to focus global attention on malaria, and its devastating impact on families, communities and societal development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The DG said the reduction became possible because of the two major strategies of vector and case management of malaria in the nation.

He quoted the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) of 2018 as revealing the reduction of malaria prevalence in the nation from about 40 per cent in 2015 to about 23 per cent, and was actually 19.5 per cent in Cross River.

He added that based on another survey conducted for 2022, though the result was yet to be out, he was sure that the result would be lower than that of 2018 because of the measures taken by the nation.

“Using vector management, we have been able to sensitise our people extensively on the need to sleep under mosquito treated nets and keep their environments clean to prevent mosquitoes thriving.

“We have also enlightened our people on the issue of indoor residual spraying that attacks mosquitoes who escaped into the house and the use of mosquito repellent creams that protect people from mosquito bites.

“There is also the issue of case management of malaria as our people now know that testing and care for malaria is free in our health centres instead of carrying out self-medication,” he said.

Speaking further Ekwe said that at the national level, the target was to reduce the prevalence of malaria by 2025 to less than 10 per cent, adding that this was possible through more awareness creation.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the 2022 World Malaria Day is to ”harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives