The National Coordinator, National Malaria Elimination Programme, Dr Perpetua Uhomoibhi, has said 27 million children aged between three months and five years from 21 states of the federation are to be targeted in the second round rollout of the seasonal malaria chemoprevention drug administration to eligible children.
The Programme Manager, Adamawa State Malaria Control Programme, Benjamin Nashon, disclosed, at a media sensitisation workshop for journalists in the state that one million children in Adamawa, who were eligible for the administration of the free malaria drug, were targeted for coverage.
Uhomoibhi lamented that malaria continued to be a major public health burden in the country.
She regretted that while the country continued to account for 27 per cent of global cases of malaria and deaths, the North-West and North-East zones were carrying the largest parasite load in the country.
She, however, noted that while the national representative survey showed a decline in prevalence of malaria from 27 per cent in 2015 to 23 per cent, the results from the North-East and North-West were not acceptable and called for more work to be done by the state and its partners to accelerate the elimination of malaria in the country.
The need to accelerate malaria elimination in Nigeria led to the expansion of high impact intervention like the SMC, as the number of states implementing it had been increased to 21 from nine.
“We are glad to inform you that this year, the NMEP is not relenting as plans to further scale up to all the 21 states have been secured and an estimated 27 million children are eligible for the SMC in 2022 in Nigeria. This evidence-proven strategy will certainly lessen the effects of malaria if given to these children by preventing infection, minimising proportions of children that progress to life threatening severe malaria and reducing the incidence of anaemia,” Uhomoibhi added.
Nashon said nearly 8,000 personnel had been engaged to administer the SMC intervention targeting one million children across the entire 21 local government areas of the state.
Dr Celine Laori, who represented the Adamawa State Deputy Governor, Chief Crowther Seth, encouraged parents to give the Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine + Amodiaquine drug to their children.
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