Stakeholders express concern on poor funding for malaria prevention

STAKEHOLDERS have expressed concern on poor domestic funding for malaria prevention activities and the high dropout rates of pregnant women attending antenatal care that receive intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) for prevention of malaria in pregnancy in Oyo state.

Oyo State coordinator, US President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S), Dr Oluwayemisi Ayandipo, said the proportion of pregnant women attending antenatal care that did not receive sulphadoxine-pyremethamine, a malaria prevention medication throughout pregnancy is worrisome.

Dr Ayandipo spoke at a SMEP engagement meeting with the religious leadership and the planning of advocacy meetings on resource mobilization for malaria.

She said, “We don’t have all eligible pregnant women receiving intermittent preventive treatment from the 13th week of pregnancy, which is the drug that is needed to prevent malaria in pregnancy.

“The proportion of pregnant women attending ANC who received at least two doses of IPTp between October 2020 and September 2021 was 59.1 per cent. The dropout rates between the first and third dose of IPTp is 44.4 per cent according to data on the District Health Information System (DHIS2).

“The dropout rate is high and it indicates that they do not come back to the facility for IPTp. This is not good because ideally to prevent malaria in pregnancy, we must ensure that they take their doses of IPTp.”

Dr Ayandipo also indicated that the state’s malaria positivity rate between October 2020 and September 2021 put at 74.8 per cent was also high.

“It indicates that of every 10 persons, seven persons tested positive for malaria. The implication is that more people are coming down with malaria and the questions we need to ask is: are people using their long lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs)? Is our environment free from mosquitoes?” she asked.

Oyo State Malaria Elimination Programme representative, Mrs Zainab Abdulraheem, in an update on domestic funding for malaria activities in the state, said the state relies on its partners for most of its activities.

She said that the number of fully immunized children and pregnant women attending antenatal clinic that received LLINs also low due to non-availability of LLINs for routine distribution in health facilities.

According to Mrs Abdulraheem, the proportion of confirmed malaria cases given ACT between January and December 2020 fluctuated due to non availability of ACTs in some health facilities.

The PMI-S Consortium partner, Nigerian Inter-faith Action Association (NIFAA)’s Social and Behavior Change Communication and Advocacy Manager, Mr Ifeanyi Kalu, said that religious leaders as change agents should lead advocacy for domestic funding of malaria.

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