Ruth Oginyi
To reduce deaths attributed to malaria in Ebonyi state, the U.S. Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) says it will distribute a total of (2,083,683)Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets(ITN) to the people of the State.
Reports say that over 3 million estimated cases of malaria occur annually in Nigeria.
Correspondent reports that a USAID-funded organization breakthrough Action Nigeria had carried out demand creation on the net distribution across Ebonyi communities and also produce jingles in local languages to ensure that the message is well disseminated to the people at the grassroots level.
Godson Kingsley of the PMI, stated this during a media parley in Abakaliki, the state capital on Tuesday.
He explained that two out of 4 persons are having malaria in the West African Sub-region including Nigeria.
According to him, one out of 5 deaths from malaria globally occurs in Nigeria while the prevalence under the age of five in Ebonyi State is 30 percent.
“Malaria is a life-threatening disease transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
“According to available reports, there is a reduction in malaria prevalence in Nigeria from 27 percent in 2015 to 23 percent in 2018.
“The prevalence of malaria in children under the age of 5 in Ebonyi State is 30 percent.
“Nigeria accounts for nearly 110 million clinically diagnosed cases per year, and an estimated 30 percent of child and 11 percent of maternal deaths each year are due to malaria.
“It is the commonest cause of absenteeism from schools, offices, farms, markets, etc resulting in lower productivity.
“Malaria exerts a huge social and economic burden on our communities and country, billions of naira are lost to malaria annually form of treatment cost, prevention, and loss of man-hours”, he stated.
The state malaria Programm Officer, Lawrence Nwankwo, explained that distribution of the nets will commence from the 27th of next month.
He noted that digital technology will be deployed in three out of the 13 LGAs in the state to mobilize households for the net distribution.
“We want to better inform you about the campaign in Nigeria and Ebonyi. We want the media to be used to support the campaign”.
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