Although malaria is preventable and treatable, the disease continues to have a devastating impact on health, killing 300,000 children in Nigeria annually.
Oyo State commissioner for health, Dr Taiwo Ladipo, who made the disclosure at the 2022 World Malaria day in Ibadan, said in Nigeria out of every 10 deaths in children below the age of 5 years, three are still attributable to malaria.
At the occasion, which had other international partners in malaria interventions such as AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) public health and Presidential Malaria Initiative for States (PMIs), pregnant women were provided insecticide-treated mosquito nets and hand sanitisers.
According to Dr Ladipo, more than two-thirds of malaria cases are among children under the age of 5 living in Africa and malaria still accounts for up to 70 per cent of hospital attendance in all age groups.
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Dr Ladipo, however, stated that the steady advance in lowering the global burden of malaria observed between 2000 and 2015, has stalled in recent years, particularly in Nigeria and other Subsaharan Africa with high malaria burden.
He said that no single intervention available today will solve the problem of malaria and urged effective use of currently available commodities for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria.
“Ending malaria in Nigeria is achievable if we play our individual and collective roles. Urgent and concerted action is needed to set the world back on a trajectory toward achieving the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy.”
State coordinator, Breakthrough Action Nigeria, Oyo State office, Mrs Oluwatoyin Afachang, declared that pregnant women and children are more vulnerable to malaria and efforts are on in the community to ensure early recognition of malaria symptoms, provide facilities to access free malaria tests and treatment and pregnant women early enrolment for antenatal care to access free malaria prevention drugs in pregnancy.
Mrs Afachang said that it is important that everyone sleeps inside mosquito nets, refrain from self-medication when they have a fever, take antimalarial drugs when tested and complete its dose to prevent antimalarial resistance.
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Malaria kills 300,000 children annually in Nigeria
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Malaria kills 300,000 children annually in Nigeria
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