Moshood Adebayo
Lagos State governor’s wife, Bolanle Ambode, has distributed 3,000 insecticide-treated nets to mark the World Malaria Day and called on Nigerians to be more concerned with preventing, rather than curing malaria infection.
April 25, every year, is World Malaria Day, set aside since 2007, to recognise global efforts at controlling malaria, provide education on the scourge and spread information on control strategies in endemic areas, across the world. She described as alarming and unacceptable, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) data, that 400,000 deaths are recorded annually, and a child dies every two minutes from malaria, around the world.
The theme for this year, “End malaria for good”, she said, is attainable, if governments, non-governmental organisations, stakeholders and individuals worked together to combat the epidemic.
Ambode’s wife said efforts should be geared towards a robust prevention of the scourge, with wide-spread use of nets, in-door spraying with insecticide and preventive treatment of expectant mothers.
“We cannot fold our arms and allow malaria to continue to ravage our society. This epidemic has claimed too many lives, whether in our country, Africa or the world in general. Thank God it is not a disease without prevention or cure, and since it has both, the easier way out is to prevent it.
“WHO tells us that more than 400,000 malaria deaths still occur annually, and, at least, one child dies of the infection every two minutes around the world, this is bad enough. It cannot go on this way, we need to scale down the ugly trend, by doing more to prevent rather than chase after cure.”