The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its effort to combat malaria, has called for sustained funding and urgent action to end malaria in Nigeria.

This was as the Chairman of Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Council (NMEC) and United Nations Malaria Ambassador, Aliko Dangote, called on governments and the private sector to urgently scale up coordinated action to eliminate malaria, describing the moment as critical to ending one of the world’s most devastating diseases.

WHO Director of West and Central Africa Programme, Dr Kolawole Maxwell, while briefing journalists at the weekend, in commemoration of the World Malaria Day in Yola, noted that the theme of this year’s edition, ‘Driven to End Malaria, Now We Can. Now We Must’, depicts the intention of WHO at completely ending malaria in Africa, which serve as a call to action for everyone and the government.

He emphasised that ending malaria requires “sustained funding by the government, good environmental hygiene, especially in the face of the rainy season, to maintain a mosquito-free environment and effective use of mosquito nets”.

Adamawa State Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Buba Mathias, represented by the Director of Public Health, Nuhu Yahaya, noted that the state performed immeasurably in the fight against malaria.

DANGOTE emphasised that while progress against malaria had been significant, “it remains uneven, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which bears more than 90 per cent of the global disease burden.”