NGO facilitates malaria prevention in 10,000 employees of ExxonMobil company

AFRICARE, an international NGO working in ExxonMobil host communities of Akwa Ibom and Rivers, says it has facilitated the prevention of malaria in 10, 000 employees of ExxonMobil.

Dr Patrick Adah, the Africare Director, Malaria Programme, disclosed this on Thursday in Ibeno Council Area of Akwa Ibom during a medical outreach, organised to mark 2017 World Malaria Day.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the outreach was organised by Africare in collaboration with ExxonMobil,  tagged, ‘Malaria Prevention in Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN)-supplier communities (MAPS-C).’

Adah said that the 10,000 beneficiaries of the MAPS-C project were members of staff of over 295 contracting oil firms working for ExxonMobil in both Akwa Ibom and Rivers.

He further said that the project, which started in 2015, had also benefitted 84, 000 individuals drawn from two oil bearing communities in the two states.

Adah said the communities were; Eket and Ibeno in Akwa Ibom and Bonny and Ogu/Bolo in Rivers.

He further said under Africare-ExxonMobil partnership, a new device for testing malaria in individuals, called Deki Reader, was introduced in the two states last year.

Adah advised the citizens of the affected communities to sleep under the long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) at night and also go for test before treating malaria.

He warned them against taking malaria drugs on the slightest feeling of headache and fever, adding that they should always do test to confirm the presence of malaria parasites before treatment.

Adah also advised the people to keep their environment clean to prevent breeding of mosquitoes responsible for transmission of the malaria parasites.

Speaking on behalf of ExxonMobil, a pharmacist in the Medical and Occupational Health Department  of the company, Mrs Enobong Etuknwa, thanked Africare for organising the programme.

Etuknwa noted that ExxonMobil had made significant progress in its workplace malaria control programme and had averted 2,000 cases of malaria.

“No ExxonMobil employee has died of malaria since 2007. Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease,” she said.

Etuknwa also said that ExxonMobil had so far committed $163 million to malaria control and elimination efforts so far between 2000 and 2017.

She also said that since 2000, the company had supported the distribution of 14 million bed nets, administered anti-malarial treatment to four million persons and also trained 590, 000 health workers.

“We believe that these investments are our responsibility as good citizens and are in our interest as a business with global footprint,” Etuknwa said.

In his address, the Chairman, Ibeno Mkpanak village council, Chief Okon Mfon, also thanked Africare for bringing the outreach to his village to help reduce malaria prevalence in the area

Mfon, however, appealed to Africare-ExxonMobil partnership to assist the community by providing equipment and personnel in its community health centre.

He further appealed to ExxonMobil to provide financial incentive to the members of staff of the health centre, to motivate them for effective healthcare delivery.

The one-day outreach is to demonstrate how Africare and ExxonMobil are playing their parts in responding to the question in this year’s slogan, “what is your role” in malaria prevention?

Experts demonstrated to the gathering at the occasion the correct use of long lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and  counseled the people on malaria prevention, testing for malaria parasites and treatment.