Wevole Ezin, Calabar
Officials and participants at the parley
Breakthrough Action Nigeria (BAN) has said recent research shows prevalence of malaria in Cross River is higher than the one at national level.
Senior Programme Officer of the organisation, Dr Olusola Adeoye disclosed this recently in Calabar during a media parley in collaboration with the Cross River State Ministry of Health in preparation for a state wide campaign to propagate the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) with the free distribution of 2.79 ITNs across every household in the state.
She said statistics from Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey (NIMS) indicates that the current prevalence of malaria in Nigeria is 22 percent, indicating a reduction from 27 percent recorded in 2015 while Cross River prevalence rate stands at 24 percent. .
Dr. Adeoye noted that there is an urgent need to campaign against malaria with the use of ITN
She called on the media and other stakeholders to curb the disturbing scenario given the high maternal and infant mortality caused by malaria.
The programme Officer hinted that the media parley was designed to guarantee a robust synergy between Breakthrough Nigeria and the media to boost efforts targeting at encouraging the use of ITN which has been proven as a reliable and cheapest means of preventing mosquito bites.
Declaring the event open, the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, Dr Janet Ekpenyong stated that “Nigeria accounts for 66 million malaria cases annually with an estimated 30% of child deaths and 11% of maternal deaths due to the disease’
She noted that drastic measures from stakeholders in the health sector and the citizenry to curtail the menace poised by malaria especially with regard to ongoing efforts aimed at ensuring that people sleep under inside the nets
She lauded Breakthrough Action Nigeria and other support partners for effective collaboration in checkmating the dangers from malaria especially among the vulnerable cadre of pregnant women and children below five years
The Commissioner disclosed that 13,570 personnel comprising health workers and ad-hoc staff have been trained and deployed to the 18 local government areas to take the campaign of the importance of using the ITN.
