Federal Government has concluded plans to roll out the malaria vaccine this year, starting with Kebbi and Bayelsa, as pilot states before extending it to other parts of the country.
The National Coordinator of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) Dr Godwin Ntadom, who disclosed this during a media conference, yesterday, in Abuja noted that Nigeria has subscribed to the vaccine, adding that, so far, only Cameroon and Kenya had commenced the use of the vaccine.
He stated that NMEP was trying preventive treatment for schoolchildren, while the government was working to achieve the target of reducing malaria prevalence in the country by 10 per cent by 2025.
The Coordinator, who lamented that many Nigerians died as a result of malaria, noted that about 608,000 died of malaria in 2022, out of which 30 per cent of the number were Nigerians.
He pointed out that Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states had the highest burden of malaria in the country while Lagos and Kwara States had the lowest.
