The federal government has called for greater sub-national and private sector investment in malaria elimination to achieve the vision of a malaria free Nigeria.
Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire made the call during the Ministerial press briefing on the event of 2020 World Malaria Day at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja over the weekend.
According to Ehanire, the theme of this year’s commemoration is “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” while the slogan is “Your fever could be Malaria, Get Tested!”.
He said the theme voices out the ministry’s commitment to the achievement of a malaria free Nigeria while the slogan tells of its earnest desire to have all fevers tested in the country in this period of Covid -19 pandemic.
Continuing, he said that the fever testing among children under 5 has increased consistently through, it is still very low when compared with the second objectives of the Malaria Strategic plan which is set to test all care seeking persons with suspected malaria using RDT or microscopy.
The Minister pointed out that the nation has been confronted with the huge challenge of dismounting the Coronavirus (Covid -19) and containing it’s spread in the country while considerable successes have been recorded in the fight against Covid-19 adding that we should not loose sight that malaria is killing many Nigerians.
He informed that malaria is still a public health challenge. According to the World Malaria Report, Nigeria still accounts for 19% of global malaria deaths-a bout deaths per hour. This situation is worsened by very low level of investment in malaria elimination at both sub-national levels and private sector.
He further appeals that all Nigerians join the fight against malaria noting that there is a role for every Nigerian which includes: keep your environment clean, sleep inside long lasting insecticide treated nests, and treatment of feverish condition with Artesiminim based Combination Therapy. (ACT)
Earlier, the National Coordinator Malaria Elimination Programme Audi Bale Mohammed represented by the Director Surveillance Monitoring and Evaluation Perpetua Uhomiibhi reiterated the need to sustain malaria control in the midst of Covid -19 pandemic in the country.
