Ondo calls for improved environmental hygiene to beat malaria
As the world marks the World Malaria Day, a call has gone to all and sundry to maintain hygienic environment as this will go a long way in eliminating malaria fever in Nigeria.
Commissioner for Health in Ondo State, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, made the call during a chat with journalists in his office.
According to him, malaria has been regarded as the major cause of maternal mortality in the country, noting that 70 per cent of patients that visit the hospitals come for malaria treatments.
Stating that malaria elimination has been scaled up in various capacities in Ondo State, he informed that free anti-malaria drugs are often given to children under zero to five years of age and pregnant women free of charge.
The Commissioner, who further explained that over 185,221 doses of Artemisinin Based Combination Therapy doses (ACTs) had been supplied within this year, he said that 21,236 units of malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test Kits were also distributed between January and April, 2016.
He however, explained that the state government had given financial supports through mass distribution of 1,565,702 long lasting Insecticide Treated Nets across the 18 Local Government Areas of the State.
With the theme for this year’s Malaria Day, ‘End Malaria For Good’, Adeyanju, assured that Ondo State government would continue to partner relevant organizations in eliminating malaria in the state, saying that it’s only when people are healthy that meaningful development can take place.
Meanwhile, despite so many gains in malaria prevention and treatment, the widespread prevalence of counterfeit, substandard medicines is contributing to the alarmingly high number of malaria deaths and costs of health care in Nigeria. An estimated 100 million malaria cases and about 300,000 deaths each year make Nigeria the country with the highest number of malaria casualties worldwide.
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