As the world marks the 2019 World Malaria Day, a Medical Researcher, Dr Bamidele Iwalokun, has urged government at all levels to strengthen malaria interventions in Nigeria through home and integrated community management of malaria.
TBI Africa.com said Iwalokun, also Head, Immunology and Vaccinology Research Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
NAN reports that World Malaria Day is an international observance commemoraated every year on April 25 and recognises global efforts to control malaria.
The theme for 2019 is: “Zero Malaria Starts with Me’’.
Iwalokun said the interventions could be achieved by engaging malaria experts and community oriented resource persons to deliver these interventions, especially to populations who could not access health facilities for health care.
“According to the world malaria report of 2015, these efforts have resulted in a decrease in malaria incidence by 37 per cent.
“The progress in malaria control has stalled and the fear is that gains made by the world in the fight against malaria may be lost if urgent measures are not taking.
“So, in 2015, our national parasite rate has decreased to 27 per cent by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and microscopy to 42 reported in 2010.
“Now, about 69 per cent of Nigerian households now own long lasting insecticide.
“The use of at least two doses of sulphadoxine pyrimethamine for preventing malaria during pregnancy among Nigerian pregnant women has also increased to 37 per cent in 2015.
“Although more than 70 per cent of people suspected to have malaria and have access to our public health facilities because they get diagnosed with either RDT or microscopy and get treated with ACT,’’ Iwalokun said.
He said that Nigeria is one of the malaria endemic countries reported by WHO to have inconsistent data to predict malaria trend and measure the impact of malaria interventions in the country.
“So, we urgently need to address this gap for us to have some correlations between exposure risk reduction and mortality risk.
“We also need to survey at least 18 million Nigerians across the country during the malaria indicator survey exercise.
“In addition, since we are now in the era of malaria elimination, malaria is no longer defined as the presence of the parasite in the blood with fever.
“It is now the presence of malaria parasite in the blood with or without fever that is why we need to re-strategise to improve funding mechanism towards malaria elimination in the country.
