Global toll of malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) remains staggering, the World health Organisation (WHO) has said.
World Health Organisation departmental news published in June 2022 stated that In 2020 alone, an estimated 627 000 people died of malaria, and there were 241 million new cases of the disease.
The World body is concerned that Progress towards the 2023 malaria target for Commonwealth countries, as well as the 2030 targets of the WHO global malaria strategy, remains off track.
The report stated that”About half of the world’s population is still missing out on the services they need to prevent, detect and treat the disease.”
In its observation of the World Malaria Day, and measure to enlighten the public in cleaning surrounding to reduce the spread of malaria, Director General of the Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) Dr. Baba Yakubu Mohammed led other stakeholders to clean up the surrounding drainages of a major market, the UTC market in Area 10, of the Garki District, in Abuja.
Mohammed who was joined by the Federal Capital Territory Chairman of the Pest Control Association of Nigeria (PECAN) Terungwa Abari, said the exercise was to further push the advocacy for a clean environment for healthy living amongst Nigerians.
The exercise which was part of observing the World Malaria Day, earmarked for 20th of August annually, witnessed a hygiene sensitization walk from Area 3 to the popular UTC market in Area 10.m all in the Garki District if the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
According to the Director General of EHORECON, Malaria remained a public health challenge that must be uprooted from the health lives of Nigerians by doing the simple but most effective things of preventing the female Anopheles from breeding in the residential surrounding.
He said this effort would reduce the mosquito population and drastically reduce malaria infection amongst the population, thereby increasing the economic wellbeing of the citizens as money spent on malaria drugs would be used for other family purposes.
He noted that another way would be to attack the malaria vector scientifically to depopulate the malaria causing vector in the surrounding area and prevent the malaria attack.
His words: “Environment plays a significant role when it comes to disease prevention, whatever we give to our environment we will get in return.
“We know that any disease caused by a vector can be eliminated if we attack the vector, attacking the vector also means a methodology not by the crude way because we know mosquitoes play a significant role in our ecosystem.
“So we are not coming with the mission of eliminating Mosquitoes, we are to eliminate Malaria, not mosquitoes,” he emphasized.
“We are coming based on our skills built on science-based research. We are coming with new and integrated methods which require physical, chemical and biological methods to address mosquitoes and eliminate Malaria,” Mohammed told the audience.
In his part, the Chairman, Abuja Chapter of the Pest Control Association of Nigeria (PECAN), PCO Terungwa Abari said Malaria posed a serious danger to humanity as it accounted for billions of deaths, since mankind.
According to him, the recent records show that Africa still has a long way to go on the 2030 target to fight Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) amongst which Malaria.m has been listed.
Terungwa who said the Malaria posed more threat to Human lives than Bandit and terrorist attacks urged Nigerians to keep a clean surrounding without being prodded to do so and save huge family resources deployed to buy drugs for more beneficial family needs.
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