Highpoint of the Africa Union Abuja +12 Special Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, ATM, held recently at the International conference Centre, ICC, Abuja, was the launch of the “The Malaria Situation Room” – an intelligence gathering focusing on Nigeria and nine other African countries accounting for 70 per cent of the malaria burden in Africa and 50 per cent of that burden worldwide.
On the heels of this revelation, National Coordinator, National Malaria Control Programme, NMCP, of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Nnenna Macelina, Ezeigwe, a public health physician and Fellow of the College of Public Health,in this interview with Sola Ogundipe, argues for more investment and compliance with approved malaria prevention and control policies in the country. Excerpts:
Prevalence
The average prevalence of malaria is now 42 percent, by rapid diagnostic test,RDT, but when you use the microscope which is more sensitive to check, the prevalence rate is 35 percent. This is a very good improvement from where we were in 2000, when the prevalence rate was more than 50 percent. The point is that malaria is the No.1 public health problem in Nigeria.
It is a high burden and when you look at the fact that Nigeria is more than 160 million people where 90 percent is at risk of the disease, then you begin to appreciate. When you look at the prevalence against the population, it is quite high and you’ll see where the problem is. Apart from that it is responsible for 30 percent under-5 mortality and 11 percent maternal death, malaria causes a lot of man hours to be lost from school and other areas of social endeavour. It has been calculated to cause a loss of about N480 billon every year.
The Malaria Situation Room says Nigeria is one of the worst hit, if fact we are the worst in Africa because we contribute a quarter of the burden. We are ranked close to Democratic Republic of Congo in terms of the burden. The report is a good initiative for us in Nigeria. What it means is that Africa is now going to focus on Nigeria and other high burden countries to track progress so that as soon as any bottleneck is identified in the implementation strategy, it can be easily addressed – whether it is technical, or financial. Then it will be identified on time and solution proffered so we can make progress.
Investment
There are many factors contributing to the high malaria burden, I do not even think as a country we are investing enough in malaria control. Actually we are not investing enough. Most of the finances used so far are donor-supported and that is one of the issues. True, a lot of resources have been committed. Nigeria is making a big investment in malaria, but it could be better. Let it be on record that I said we are not investing enough in malaria treatment. We should do better.
Source: Vanguard
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