by Christiana Gokyo, Jos

Malaria is a life-threatening disease, spread to humans by some types of mosquitoes. It is mostly found in tropical countries. It is preventable and curable.

The infection is caused by a parasite and does not spread from person-to-person; symptoms can be mild or life-threatening. Mild symptoms are fever, chills and headache. Severe symptoms include fatigue, confusion, seizures, and difficulty breathing.

Malaria can be prevented by avoiding mosquito bites and with medicines. Treatments can stop mild cases from getting worse.

Malaria mostly spreads to people through the bites of some infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, and can be life-threatening to Cchildren less than five years and pregnant women.

Nigeria accounts for over 66 million malaria cases, annually, and an estimated 30 percent of child and 11 percent of maternal deaths each year are due to malaria.

The Senior Program Officer for Media of Breakthrough Actions Nigeria, Mr. Eze Eze Ogali, disclosed this during Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) Mass Campaign in Plateau State Maria Parley at the NUJ Press Center, Jos, on Tuesday.

He said “Malaria remains the most common cause of absenteeism from school, offices, farms, markets, among others, resulting in lower productivity, and it exerts a huge social and economic burden on our communities and country. Billions of naira are lost to malaria annually in form of treatment cost, prevention, and loss of man hours.”

According to him, “Sleeping inside an Insecticide-Treated Net is one of the best ways to prevent malaria, as it forms a physical and chemical barrier against mosquitoes. It has been proven that the use of ITNs reduced malaria incidence by 50% in sub-sahara Africa, in a region which accounts for more than 90 percent of global cases.

“With this and other malaria prevention measures, there has been a reduction in malaria prevalence in Nigeria, from 27% in 2015, to 22% in 2021. This is similar in Plateau State at 19%, compared to 21%.”

According to him, “To reduce the burden of malaria in the state, the government of Plateau State, through the state ministry of health in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), the United States President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and Against Malaria Foundation (AMF) is distributing over 2,998,600 Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) to households in Plateau State.

“The implementation is being carried out by Global Health Supply Chain-Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) and Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria (BA-N).”

He explained further that, “Before these nets will be distributed, every household must be registered. This is referred to as ‘household mobilization’ where persons wearing uniforms with malaria logo will visit the households, from 22nd to 28th March 2024, to register and give e-token slips that will entitle each household for free nets.”

The Senior Program Officer said the distribution of the free nets will commence, from the 13th to 19th April 2024, adding that each household a representative is expected to go to the distribution point written on their e-token slips to collect the free nets.

According to him, “Once is collected, the new nets should be spread out to air under shade for 24 hours before hanging it over a sleeping area. Every member of the family should sleep inside with the nets well tucked in over the sleeping area every night, all-year round, to prevent malaria.

“Blood transfusion and contaminated needles may also transmit malaria. The first symptoms may be mild, similar to many febrile illnesses, and difficulty to recognize as malaria. 

“The objective is to provide opportunities for practicing journalists to gain insights into the Plateau State Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) Campaign, and to orientate journalists on malaria prevention and control with special emphasis on use of ITNs.

“Also, the aim is to motivate journalists to develop interest in the coverage and reporting on the campaign-pre, during and post-Campaign activities and get journalists to join in the national crusade for ‘A malaria-free Nigeria.’”

Also, Program Manager Breakthrough, Linda Gaya, said, “Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) distribution campaign is one of the major strategies to deliver nets to the entire population, with the goal to scale-up coverage and utilization of ITNs as a strategy for malaria control.”

She explained that, ITN Mass distribution is done every 3-4 years in each state to maintain universal coverage, and it commenced in May 2009, in Kano and Anambra State, which were used as pilot states.

According to her, the first round of Mass Campaigns was between 2009 and 2013, using a strategy of two Nets for every household in the country, while over 300 million ITNs have been distributed in Nigeria.

By MbNewss

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