Redouble fight against malaria, Nweke Jr. urges government, corporate bodies

Mr Frank Nweke Jr., Chairman, Malaria Child and Maternal Mortality Eradication (MACMME), an NGO, has called on government and corporate organisations to redouble their efforts in the fight against malaria in the country. Nweke made the call at a fundraiser for the MACMME anti-malaria projects in commemmoration of 2019 World Malaria Day on Thursday in Lagos.

“It is in our collective interest that we ensure that our youths are healthy and taken off the streets in other to nurture their dreams and provide a healthy population for the society.“So, it is actually in our interest as corporate bodies to support initiatives such as MACMME for the betterment of the society,” he said.

Nweke, a former Minister of Information, said that he was inspired by the resilience and determination of Nigerian youths.“In the years since my ministerial position, my despondency has grown because of so many things including the state affairs of the youth sector, unemployment, crime and the general loss of values.

“However, one thing that has endured as well, is my love and admiration for young Nigerians who, in spite of all odds, continue to be resilient in spite of the state of our government.“They are determined to do what they can and ensure that they contribute their own quota to the development of our country,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, Managing Director, Sterling Bank, represented by Miss Peace Isang, said that the bank was particularly concerned about the development of the country’s health sector.

“Basically, we are concerned about advocacy, financing and helping the health sector improve with digitization and infrastructural development.“So far, we have been able to cover Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Radiology Department, some pharmacists as well as create some products and propositions that will help the health sector,” he said. Abubakar said that the bank’s main focus was ensuring that low income earners received adequate healthcare because they were the most affected by the health sector as a result of poverty.

“Poverty is also attached to healthcare because a lot of people cannot afford quality healthcare so Sterling Bank has come up with flexible products and propositions to help them.“MACMME is a great project and I hope that Sterling Bank will be able to do more than we have done so far and we are delighted be part of this project,” Abubakar said.

Miss Nicole Ndigwe, Founder of MACMME, said that their mission was to develop a systems approach to eliminating child and maternal mortality attributed to malaria and other preventable causes of death.“Over 300,000 children still die from malaria, while over 108 million people are homeless in Nigeria. I hope that MACMME will change the reality of people who the society has left behind and forgotten.

“Our desire is to intervene through coordinated strategies of reorientation, rehabilitation and empowerment to prevent these deaths.“We believe that with a successful campaign and advancement of the MACMME goals, significant progress towards drastically reducing the death rates from preventable causes will be achieved,” Ndgiwe said.