Isaac Adewale |
The Federal Government has appealed to the United States for
support to eliminate malaria in Nigeria by 2020.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the call
on Monday at the 2017 World Malaria Day celebration organised by the US Embassy
in Abuja.
He stated that the Federal Government was determined to
achieve the feat by 2020, noting that available indices in the country
indicated that the dream of a malaria-free nation was far from being realised.
He said, “Our target is to achieve zero mortality rate from
malaria by 2020, very ambitious target but do-able; we can achieve it that no
Nigerian died of malaria by 2020.
“We are working together with the (Nigerian) Governors Forum
to build a strong alliance on health system, to treat malaria with the prevention of malaria and make sure
we take malaria off the street.
“I use this occasion to solicit for more support to enable
us to achieve a pre-elimination phase in 2020.”
He commended the US Agency for International Development for
its support which he said included financial, logistics, technical input and
also provision of nets, indoor residual spray and other anti-malaria
commodities.
Adewole explained that USAID/Presidential Malaria Initiative
covered 11 states with a substantial investment of about $490m.
He added that the effort showed that malaria was being
attacked on all fronts by the supporting partners, indicating that malaria
would soon be over in Nigeria.
“A look at some of the indices showed that we are still far
from our dream of malaria-free Nigeria. Our current Malaria Strategic Plan,
which is meant to lead us to pre-elimination, has been praised for being
focused and articulate, but it is coming at a time when the resources for
malaria control are dwindling,” he said.
The US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, David Young, called
on Nigerians to be committed to sleeping in a treated bed net every night to
end malaria for good.
Young warned against the use of chloroquine in treating
malaria “because it does not cure the disease.”
He added, “Ending malaria for good is achievable if we play
our individual and collective roles, remember that malaria is preventable:
Ensure that you and all members of your household sleep under a treated bed net
every night.”
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