THE President, Malaria Society of Nigeria, Dr Babajide Puddicombe, says public health enlightenment remains key in the prevention, control and management of communicable diseases, including malaria.
Puddicombe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that the three tiers of government needed to focus on the areas highlighted above.
He spoke ahead of the commemoration of the World Malaria Day (WMD) usually marked annually on April 25.
NAN reports that the theme for 2017 is: “End Malaria for Good”.
“The print and electronic media also need to be up to the task of disseminating information from such awareness programmes.
“This has been one of our priorities in the Malaria Society of Nigeria since 1992,” he said.
The president said that malaria scourge was higher at the grassroots, especially, the coastal areas.
According to him, several attentions have been paid over the years to eradicating the scourge in the urban and semi urban areas.
“We need to take malaria awareness campaigns down to the grassroots, especially, the coastal areas.
“This should be the focus in our efforts to spread the messages to every part of the country.
“People need to be aware of the preventive measures required to reduce the malaria scourge.
“The use of insecticide nets and keeping clean environments that entail proper disposal of refuse will help to reduce malaria,” Puddicombe said.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the WMD is an occasion to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.
The organisation said it was shining a spotlight on prevention, a critical strategy for reducing the toll of a disease that continued to kill more than 400,000 people annually.
“Since 2000, malaria prevention has played an important role in reducing cases and deaths, primarily through the scale-up of insecticide-treated nets and indoor spraying with insecticides,” WHO said.