By Abdulrahman Abdullahi
The Chief Executive Officer, FYODOR Biotechnologies, Dr Eddy Agbo, has maintained that the fight against malaria should be taken as seriously as the fight against coronavirus in Nigeria to reduce death rate.
Agbo stated this while delivering a keynote address during a colloquium organised by the Centre for Malaria Research, Diagnosis, Training and Policy, University of Lagos with the theme, ‘Reaching the Zero Malaria Target.’
He explained the act of being negligent against malaria as ‘sitting on a time-bomb’ which he described as an unreported case in the country, saying other countries had leveraged on technology and increased investment in combating malaria.
Agbo said, “We require the same level of urgency and intervention that we had with the COVID-19; we require the same to address malaria because when you look at it, malaria kills way more people. “About 90,000 Nigerians died last year from malaria according to the World Health Organisation and that is a low estimate.”
The Malaria Programme Manager for Lagos State, Dr Abimbola Oshinowo, lamented the attitude of Nigerians towards preventing malaria.
Meanwhile, Punch News reported that, Oshinowo who represented the Lagos State Commission for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the quickest and easiest way to ensure that people do not get infected with malaria was through the use of the long lasting insecticide nets and adhering to clean environment as the universal strategies for the prevention of malaria.
Also, A Consultant Medical Parasitologist and Director, Center for Malaria Research Diagnosis Training and Policy, Prof. Wellington Oyibo, said the government, private sector and individuals should push for malaria funding just like they did for the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that malaria was fast killing children and pregnant women on a daily basis than COVID-19.
He said, “COVID-19 test is about N50, 000 and malaria test is within N2000 and N5000. Let us put that same level of investment we put into COVID-19 into malaria. The investment is critical in attaining this zero target for malaria and we want to see that reduction.”
“Investments such as financial support for movement of commodities for malaria, as some commodities may not get to their target because there are no logistic funding components. Private groups that do haulage should help provide that service from one place to another; as well as advertisement support to raise awareness. Malaria disease should be on the front headlines of the media, let us leave politics alone.”