— 22nd November 2017
From ODINAKA EZEOKA.
Studies have shown that 3o children die every hour in Nigeria as a result of malaria attack.
The high infant mortality death in the country is as result of malaria. Mr Audu Muhammed who is the Cordinator
of the ational Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) in the Federal
Ministry of Health, Audu Muhammed made the shocking revelation in Abuja saying that it also contribute to child's failure in learning.
The Minister said that malaria remain a big problem in the country and should be dealt with.
UNICEF revealed that every single day,
Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year old and 145 women of
childbearing age, thereby making the country the second largest
contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.
Speaking at a media parley where he
was represented by the Director, Monetary and Evaluation, NMEP, Dr.
Perpetual Uhomoibhi, said that the Federal Government has scaled up
the distribution of long lasting insecticides nets (LLINs) across the
country with hope to stop children from being infected with the
disease.
Meanwhile he however, said Nigeria has recorded a reduction in the prevalence rate of malaria
“It is indeed sad to know that malaria is
still a leading cause of death for under-five children in Nigeria,
snuffing out lives of about 30 children every one hour and rendering a
substantial number of them incapable of effective learning. However, we
have good results on reduction of prevalence,” he said.
On how the reduction was achieved, he
explained that Federal Government has distributed 8.4 million LLINs in
Kogi, Edo and Osun States, with a total of 105 million distributed
across the country.
“The prevalence of malaria has reduced
from 42 percent to 27 percent (MIS, 2015). The National Insecticide
Resistance Management (NIRM) plan has been finalised, it is meant to
guide the country’s decision on malaria management in the future,” he
said.
Also speaking, representative of Clinton
Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Omawumi Omoniwa, advised that people
get tested for the disease before treatment.
It was also revealed that preventable or
treatable infectious diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea,
measles and HIV/AIDS account for more than 70 per cent of the estimated
one million under-five deaths in Nigeria
30 CHILDEREN DIE EVERY ONE HOUR DUE TO MALARIA..
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Wednesday, November 22, 2017
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