Malaria scourge in Nigeria: Challenges and milestones

The battle against malaria in the world has been raging for decades. While many countries including Argentina, Costa Rica and Morocco have recorded complete victory over the disease, it appears that for countries like Nigeria and Angola, the end is not near just yet. For Angola, the malaria death toll continues to rise in comparison with results from previous years. The country has also been marked by World Health Organisation (WHO) as “undergoing a health crisis’’.

Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite called P.falciparum. It is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes with symptoms such as fever. If left untreated, Malaria can kill.

Children and pregnant women bear the brunt of the disease as more than 70% of deaths due to Malaria are recorded among children less than five years of age.

With about a 100million malaria cases and 300,000 deaths recorded annually, Nigeria has the highest number of malaria casualties worldwide despite spirited campaigns against the scourge.

The allocation of resources to tackle the health challenge is not in issue; however, how do we know whether the resources deployed get to the intended destinations or not?

Most health experts in Nigeria are of the view that for Nigeria to get rid of malaria; the first on its list should be “a good health care system.”

There are thousands of government hospitals in the country which are supposed to provide affordable healthcare to citizens but fail woefully in this regard.

Recently at a ministerial press briefing to commemorate this year’s World Malaria Day, the Minister of Health Professor Isaac Adewole lamented that “it is sad that malaria still poses a major health challenge to the country and is a major cause of death of children under the age of five”.

He added that government is concerned about this and is working towards additional funding to close existing gaps and move towards elimination.

He said,‘’We need to de-normalize malaria and nobody should die of malaria because malaria is preventable and treatable’’. He thanked partners such as World Health Organization (WHO), Global Fund, USAID, UNICEF, Society for Family Health adding that it is not over until it is over and working together we can end malaria.

World Malaria Day is celebrated on the 25th of April every year. The commemoration aims to create awareness on malaria prevention/control, renew political, domestic and international commitments, fight malaria and advocate for disease funding.

The commemoration also affords the opportunity to bring to the fore the devastating effects of malaria on families, communities and the economy.

The theme for this year ‘’Ready to beat Malaria’’ underscores the collective energy and commitment of the global malaria community in uniting around the common goal of a world free of malaria and double up efforts to defeat the disease.

Also, the Country Representative of the WHO Dr Lynda Ozor who also added her voice said that the control and eventual elimination of malaria requires political leadership at the highest level, as well as leadership of programmes, resource mobilization, intersectoral and cross-border collaboration.

She stressed that WHO remains a technical partner to Federal Ministry of Health, and encouraged strong coordination, clear strategies and determined actions towards malaria control. ‘’We must however remain vigilant of the emerging threats of insecticide and drug resistance which have devastating potential to reverse the gains made’’ she said.

WHO has supported countries in the fight against malaria for seven decades and a lot of successes as well as challenges have been recorded but latest WHO malaria report indicates that the world is not on track to reaching critical milestones.

In 2016, Nigeria accounted for 27% of all malaria cases in the world and 52% of the cases in the West African region. There were an estimated five million more malaria cases in 2016 than in 2015 and malaria deaths stood at around 445,000.

Nevertheless, increased malaria prevention and control measures are dramatically reducing the malaria burden in many places. With renewed political commitments, continued collaborations with development partners and high investment towards malaria prevention, control and treatment Nigeria is ready to beat malaria.

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