The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said malaria is preventable and treatable, therefore no Nigerians should die as a result of the scourge.
The Minister spoke on Friday in Abuja during the commemoration of the 2018 World Malaria Day.
Adewole said: “It is indeed sad that malaria, though preventable, still remains a major public health problem in Nigeria and constitutes a major barrier to social and economic development.
“It is a major cause of death among children under-5.”
Adewole assured Nigerians that Government is concerned about the prevalence of malaria and is working hard to improve the quality of care and increase access to anti-malaria commodities, particularly amongst the poor.
He said government is working towards securing additional funding to close the existing commodity gap and move Nigeria towards elimination of the disease.
He added that with government’s commitment and support from the stakeholders as well as consistent use of Long lasting Insecticidal Treated Net and good environmental sanitation, it is possible to have a malaria free Nigeria.
Speaking to school children from Grace Garden International School, Maitama, Abuja at the event, the Minister informed that the Federal Government had directed the distribution of a large number of free mosquito nets to households across the country, thus children should demand to sleep under mosquito nets.
Adewole said: “Nobody should die from malaria because malaria is preventable and treatable.
“Anybody with fever should go for test to be sure if it is malaria or not.
“Don’t allow anybody to treat you for malaria without confirmation through diagnostic test.
“There is no room for mono-chloroquine therapy for malaria.”
On local production of insecticidal treated net, the Minister said the Federal Government was interested in local production and was willing to buy made-in-Nigeria mosquito nets.
He added: “We are making sure that we will not use our Naira to buy nets from outside the country.
“We would buy our nets locally.
“If the manufacturers can produce nets here, we would buy them and use them in Nigeria, but they should make sure they are qualitative.”
In his remarks, the WHO Country Representative Dr. Wondi Alemu, represented by the Malaria Programme Manager, WHO, Dr. Lynda Ozor, called on the federal and state governments, communities and private sector to work with development partners to boost investments in malaria prevention and control.
Alemu said: “WHO has pledged her continuous partnership with Federal Ministry of Health to identify not only with the progress that has or will be made, but also with the difficulties that may be encountered as well as underlining ways of surmounting them.”
Follow Us On WhatsApp
