Posted on: Fri 18-06-2021

Members of the Civil Society in Malaria Control , Immunization and Nutrition (ACOMIN), are calling on government at all levels  to as a matter of urgency step up the fight against malaria.

Wondering why malaria,  which according to them is a preventable and treatable disease has  continue to claim hundreds of thousands of lives each year in Nigeria , increased funding,  they believed would go a long way to reduce or eliminate the spread of the disease 

The group  programme officer

Wubunna Ishaku Gofwen, who made the call during a media brief in Jalingo, Taraba state,  also beckoned at media practitioners spread across the country to  join Nigeria's fight against the ailment by amplifying the need for increased funding for malaria intervention by the various governments. 

Sad that the disease has continue to be on the increase, all hands , as suggested by him , should be on deck in order to eradicate the disease from the nooks and crannies of the country. 

Citing the way and manner other ailments,  have being giving the much desired attentions, the fight against malaria,  as opined by him , should as well be given the same level of intervention in order to avert avoidable deaths.

Gofwen who went ahead to quote  the leadership of the Global Fund (GF)  who stated that  Nigeria has the "biggest malaria burden globally with about 61 million estimated cases recorded annually "  with all hands on  deck, the dreams of eliminating malaria from the country,  he believed would soon be a thing of the past. 

Further citing the dilapidated facilities spreads across Public Health Centres, insufficient malaria commodities,  inadequate human resources in the health facilities among others,  as major challenges frustrating the fight against malaria , the media, as affirmed by him,  should tread extra legitimate miles to herald government attentions to such areas.

  

Revealing the measures so far put in place by the Global Fund (GF) to help fight malaria in thirteen out of the thirty-six states in Nigeria (Taraba inclusive), the need for the government to reciprocate such gestures,  he believed can no longer be overemphasized. 

Gofwen,  also disclosed that a whopping sum of $2.6 billion have been set aside for malaria intervention by SF in the country.

States to benefit from the fund , according to him , includes Kaduna ,Kano Katsina,  Jigawa,  Kwara,  Niger,  Gombe,  Yobe,  Adamawa,  Ogun,  Oshun, Delta and Taraba  .

Also on his parts, the state coordinator of the group ,  Alhaji Mohammed Tanko Danburam, beckoned  at journalists to expand same  energies they used in reporting covid-19 pandemic and  Ebola to issues that have to do with malaria. 

The coordinator who stressed on the need to modify the goal of the national malaria program to achieve a parasite prevalence of less than 10% and reduce mortality attributed to malaria to less than 50 deaths  per 1000 live births by 2015, said the group have been  reengaged by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) under the ongoing GF Malaria Grant to continue implementing the civil society component of the project.

By Charles Akpeji 

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