From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
As part of efforts to tackle and possibly eliminate malaria in Nigeria, and even beyond, the Federal Government said it has taken some quick measures to achieve the goal.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said the measures were taken at the roundtable discussion on Rethinking Malaria Elimination in Nigeria, held in Abuja, on Friday.
The Minister, at the meeting registered his discontent with increasing annual deaths from malaria despite several interventions from local and international partners.
The Minister was also unhappy that despite huge financial and logistic investments over the years, malaria could not be eliminated in Nigeria, rather more deaths are being recorded annually as a result of malaria.
“Sadly, with all these efforts, the country has not seen the much-desired progress. Morbidity and mortality in absolute numbers are increasing, and these are fuelled by several factors from inadequate funding to increasing insecticide resistance, to disruptions to essential malaria services,” he said.
The Minister was, however, impressed with the participation and suggestions that were provided by all the local and international partners, and was particularly happy that some realistic solutions were provided as part of the conference.
He confirmed that at the end of the meeting, nine realistic action plans were produced and endorsed by all the stakeholders that participated in the meeting.
He said: “We identified key shifts and strategic action plans to combat malaria in Nigeria, and they include – establishing an independent Advisory Group on Malaria Elimination in Nigeria (AMEN); development of a pragmatic, costed plan for malaria elimination making explicit the required trade–offs; intensified malaria case management including NHIA reforms, domesticated affordable medicines for malaria effort, expanding primary health and frontline workforce.
“Other actions include mobilizing domestic and global funding for malaria; relentless focus on operational excellence to deploy and optimize existing tools for high coverage, including LLINs, SMC, IPT, IVM and phased introduction of safe, efficacious vaccines; enhancing community and leadership involvement in malaria elimination; strengthening data integrity and accountability; intensifying preparedness and response to climate change’s impacts on malaria; and exploring bold innovations in service delivery and financing mechanisms.”
He appreciated the efforts and interventions of National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) over the years that had resulted in improved malaria indices even though more achievements was expected.
“Undoubtedly, tools for the control of the disease have evolved both in quantity and quality over the years, but commitment by countries towards the elimination of the disease could not be sustained as budgets for healthcare across countries on the continent dwindled over time, and only a few countries could achieve the Abuja targets.
“Several strategies and interventions have been deployed and scaled up in the country towards the elimination of malaria. Some of these include the introduction of artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) as treatment, the Affordable Medicine Facility for Malaria (AMFM) to make antimalarial medicines available and affordable, training of community-oriented resource persons on recognizing and treating malaria, etc.
“Over 140 million have also been distributed since 2010 through campaigns and routine distribution to households. One of the latest interventions is the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), which protects children below the age of five years from malaria attacks, and this has been scaled up from the initial nine states in the Sahelian region at onset to cover 23 states across areas with seasonal rainfall in the country.”
NMEP Coordinator, Dr. Godwin Ntadon, in his remarks, appreciated the commitment of all stakeholders’ towards the fight against malaria, and appealed for more funding particularly from the local sources to strengthen the fight.