The Ogun State Government has inaugurated the Insecticide Treated Nets Campaign Coordination Network (ICCN), to facilitate effective distribution of nets across the state, as part of effort to eliminate malaria.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, during the inauguration of the ICCN in Abeokuta, over the weekend, disclosed that the distribution of the insecticide-treated nets would commence in July across all the 20 Local Government Areas.
She added that the ICCN is saddled with ensuring that the nets are well- distributed and appropriately utilized.
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Coker noted that malaria remains one of the diseases that contributed to the mortality rate in Nigeria, saying the interventions of the government and its development partners have brought about a reduction in malaria deaths from 400, 000 in 2010 to about 260, 000 in 2018 in Nigeria.
“We have seen a significant reduction of deaths as a result of malaria in recent years. Between 2010 and 2018, there was about a 33 per cent reduction in malaria deaths. Also, we had a successful malaria prevention net campaign in 2018. However, it ought to have been a lot more successful but for low utilization of the nets given out to individuals. We hope to correct this shortcoming with the new nets,” She said.
She expressed optimism that the campaign would bring about a reduction of deaths from malaria that is better than the 33 per cent recorded between 2010 and 2018, adding that the key to achieving this goal will depend on high utilization among the citizens.
The commissioner added that the ICCN is composed of top government officials in the health sector, representatives of development partners, representatives of line ministries including Education, Environment, Budget and Planning, Information, Local Government and Chieftaincy, and Community Development and Cooperatives and other relevant stakeholders.
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