The Federal Government has promised to implement the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) in 21 eligible states and provide 30 million under-five children with malaria preventive medicines.
Minister of State for Health, Dr Adekunle Salako, disclosed this at the event organised in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and other partners to commemorate World Malaria Day in Abuja.
Salako noted that an integrated supply chain mechanism, coordinated by the National Product Supply Chain Management Programme, will be utilised to ensure efficient delivery of these life-saving commodities to where they are most needed.
He observed that the government has made adequate budgetary allocation to fill the funding gap created by the freeze in USAID/PMI malaria elimination activities in our country.
According to the government, urgent malaria commodity needs in USAID/PMI-supported health facilities in the affected states have been identified and will be procured through the Procurement and Supply Chain Management Unit in collaboration with the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC).
Salako said that the commodities to be procured include Artemisinin-based Combination Therapies (ACTs), Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, Injectable artesunate for severe malaria, and Sulfadoxine/Pyrimethamine (SP) combination drugs for pregnant women.
The minister expressed concern over the statistics from the World Malaria Report (WMR) 2024, which shows that Nigeria alone is responsible for 27% of the global malaria cases and 31% of the global malaria deaths, saying that this highlights the urgent need for proactive action to prevent and eliminate this deadly disease.
He stated that the government has initiated the processes to pilot for the first time, Larval Source Management in six states which include: Abia, Borno, Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo, and Rivers States.
Salako observed that the federal government has deployed a phased rollout of the Malaria Vaccine in Kebbi and Bayelsa State, benefitting children aged 5-23 months (with around 80,000 eligible children receiving MV1) adding that the rollout of the Vaccine will be expanded to an additional 17 states in 2025 as part of our scale-up plan.
He noted that eliminating malaria and other related diseases is topmost in the agendas of this administration, adding that the government, through the Rethinking Malaria Initiative, has put into action key strategies to change the narratives and drive a more effective and efficient malaria elimination goal.
Salako observed that among these actions are the implementation of a Pragmatic costed plan that is based on sub-national tailoring of key malaria interventions and the establishment of an Advisory on Malaria Elimination in Nigeria (AMEN) which is harnessing top malaria experts across the globe to provide technical assistance support for the country’s efforts in eliminating malaria.
He added that through the support of partners, the government had also put evidence-based interventions in place to achieve a malaria-free Nigeria by 2030, including increasing access to insecticide-treated mosquito nets, which it plans to implement in 12 states this year.
According to him, the states include Akwa Ibom, Delta, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Taraba and Yobe states.
The minister stated that the theme of this year’s World Malaria Day, “Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reignite, reimagine”, is a call to take ownership and make the necessary decisions that will help us achieve our goal of eliminating this deadly disease.
