Nigeria needs $500 million to win the war against malaria in the county, Dr. Nnenna Ezeigwe, the National Coordinator of the National Malaria Elimination Programme, has said.
Ezeigwe told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the money would be used for Indoor Residual Spraying, larviciding and other environmental management interventions already tune in by the programmed.
IRS is an intervention that involves spraying the living spaces with a chemical that stayed for about six months.
Any mosquito that touches the chemical within the period will die.
Ezeigwe said: “It is good and effective, Nigeria needs it as an alternative to the Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, but because the nets are cheaper our partners decided to help us with it.
“Many countries that successfully eliminate malaria had applied similar methods and succeeded.”
The coordinator said most of the funding for the Malaria Elimination Programme is from foreign donors.
“As a country, we must take our destiny into our hands and commit the required resources to relief people from the scourge of malaria,” she said.
Ezeigwe said the financial loss due to malaria annually is estimated to be N132 billion in forms of treatment costs, prevention and loss of man-hours.
She added that the disease, which is treatable and completely evitable, is responsible for 60 per cent outpatient visits to health facilities.
“It is also responsible for 30 per cent childhood death, 25 per cent of death in children under one year and 11 per cent maternal death in Nigeria,” she said.
Ezeigwe appealed to the incoming government to look into these and support the Federal Ministry of Health to win the war against malaria.
She also advised the incoming administration to understand that malaria is the number one public health enemy that needed serious effort to be eliminated.
She said: “The global focus is on elimination of the disease and the funding for the elimination of malaria in Nigeria is very poor.
“We need the commitment of government in terms of committing domestic resources to take up those interventions, which the partners are not interested in doing, that is the IRS and Larvicides.
“These two must happen before we eliminate malaria in Nigeria.”
Ezeigwe also appealed to Nigerians to utilise the maximum advantage of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, adding that the usage of the LLIN in Nigeria is below 47 per cent.
Nigeria needs $500m to combat malaria – Coordinator
Nigeria needs $500 million to win the war against malaria in the county, Dr. Nnenna Ezeigwe, the National Coordinator of the National Malaria Elimination Programme, has said.
Ezeigwe told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday that the money would be used for Indoor Residual Spraying, larviciding and other environmental management interventions already tune in by the programmed.
IRS is an intervention that involves spraying the living spaces with a chemical that stayed for about six months.
Any mosquito that touches the chemical within the period will die.
Ezeigwe said: “It is good and effective, Nigeria needs it as an alternative to the Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, but because the nets are cheaper our partners decided to help us with it.
“Many countries that successfully eliminate malaria had applied similar methods and succeeded.”
The coordinator said most of the funding for the Malaria Elimination Programme is from foreign donors.
“As a country, we must take our destiny into our hands and commit the required resources to relief people from the scourge of malaria,” she said.
Ezeigwe said the financial loss due to malaria annually is estimated to be N132 billion in forms of treatment costs, prevention and loss of man-hours.
She added that the disease, which is treatable and completely evitable, is responsible for 60 per cent outpatient visits to health facilities.
“It is also responsible for 30 per cent childhood death, 25 per cent of death in children under one year and 11 per cent maternal death in Nigeria,” she said.
Ezeigwe appealed to the incoming government to look into these and support the Federal Ministry of Health to win the war against malaria.
She also advised the incoming administration to understand that malaria is the number one public health enemy that needed serious effort to be eliminated.
She said: “The global focus is on elimination of the disease and the funding for the elimination of malaria in Nigeria is very poor.
“We need the commitment of government in terms of committing domestic resources to take up those interventions, which the partners are not interested in doing, that is the IRS and Larvicides.
“These two must happen before we eliminate malaria in Nigeria.”
Ezeigwe also appealed to Nigerians to utilise the maximum advantage of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets, adding that the usage of the LLIN in Nigeria is below 47 per cent.