The Adamawa Government has tasked people of the state to always clean their surroundings to avoid breeding of mosquitoes, the vector for malaria disease and other related diseases.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Abdullahi Isa, made the call on Monday in Yola to commemorate the 2022 World Malaria Day (WMD).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that World Malaria Day is annually observed on April 25 around the globe to raise awareness about the pandemic that has continued to claim lives and send millions to hospital.
It is a day marked by all member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to underscore the collective energy and commitments of the global malaria community in uniting around the common goal of a world free of malaria.
The global observance has “Harness Innovation to Reduce the Malaria Disease Burden and Save Lives” as its 2022 theme.
The theme is a call for investments and innovation that will bring new vector control approaches, diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and other tools to speed the pace of progress against malaria.
The commissioner said that the major strategy, among others, put in place to control malaria in the state included sensitisation on environmental sanitation, prompt diagnosis and treatment.
He added that “the recent National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) reveals that over 90,000 malaria-related deaths are recorded in Nigeria every year.
“Nigeria accounts for about a quarter of the global burden of malaria, with nine to 10 persons dying of malaria or malaria-related cases every hour.
“The prevalence of malaria is, however, declining as shown in national surveys from 27 per cent in 2015 to 23 per cent in 2018.
“And for Adamawa, the prevalence is 21 per cent, following the adoption of major strategy put in place for the control and elimination of the disease.”
Isa also said that one of the preventive measures adopted was the use of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLITN), as well as proper environmental management system.
The commissioner said that the state government had intensified campaign on prevention of mother-to-child transmission
through the Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTp) after the first trimester every month till birth.
“We are encouraging pregnant women to always use the LLITN to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and to avoid being infected with malaria.
“Malaria can also be prevented through Seasonal Malaria Chemo (SMC) prevention administration to children under five years”, he said.
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