Government Provides Chemo-Prevention Against Malaria For 23 Million Nigerian Children

As a way to reduce severe malaria in children in the country, 23 million Nigerian children have received the seasonal malaria chemoprevention

This was disclosed by President Muhammadu Buhari in Kigali at the Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

The summit is part of activities at the ongoing 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the Rwandan capital.

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire who represented President Buhari delivered a speech on his behalf saying;

“I am pleased to say my country has recorded gains in reducing the burden of malaria and NTDs and averting millions of malaria infections and deaths as can be seen in the 2021 World Malaria Report.

“In spite of Covid-19-induced restrictions, Nigeria distributed more than a 17million long-lasting Insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) for vector control.

“The LLIN prevents not only malaria but also NTDs transmitted by mosquito vectors.

“To protect against malaria in our seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Strategy, we scaled up from nine states to 21 beneficiary states in 2021, to reach 23 million children,’’ he said.

The Nigerian Leader urged Commonwealth leaders to remain committed to getting rid of the disease while assuring the best efforts by his government to mobilise domestic resources in the fight against NTDs and malaria.

He revealed that 300 million dollars has been secured from the World Bank and from the Islamic Development Bank to cover essential malaria programmes and strengthen Primary Healthcare.

“Estimates of persons in the WHO-Africa region contracting malaria is still in hundreds of millions while fatalities are still in hundreds of thousands, the greatest toll being on pregnant women and under-five children.

“With regard to NTDs, Africa bears more than half of the global burden estimated at more than one billion in 149 countries.

“It is, therefore, important for low-income countries, most impacted, to join forces to end this double-disease burden.

“We can achieve this by urgently scaling up innovation and deployment of new tools while advocating for equitable access to prevention and treatment,’’ he said.

18 billion tablets were also donated by pharmaceutical companies for preventing and treating NTDs.