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Group canvasses deployment of more resources to fight malaria

By Charles Akpeji, Jalingo
08 December 2021   |   2:50 am
The Civil Society for Malaria, Control, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN) has declared that deploying more resources to malaria treatment, as it is being done in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic

[FILES] A baby receives a dose of the RTS,S vaccine for malaria. Credit: Cristina Aldehuela/AFP/Getty/Nature

The Civil Society for Malaria, Control, Immunisation and Nutrition (ACOMIN) has declared that deploying more resources to malaria treatment, as it is being done in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic will reduce the prevalence of malaria in Taraba and the entire country.

It stated this, yesterday, at a media briefing on the Global Fund Malaria Community-led monitoring project being implemented by ACOMIN in Taraba State.

The group urged media practitioners to mount pressure on the authorities to make malaria treatment and eradication a priority as it was being done with the COVID-19 pandemic.

State Programme Officer of the group, Wubunna Ishaku Gofwen, sought media engagement to mount pressure on government ministries and agencies to increase community-centred initiatives in their programmes.

It is also believed that the media could play a greater role in ensuring the presence of government and its agencies in the fight against malaria, adding that the media should stand tall and encourage donors to increase their support for community-centred initiatives.

Gofwen further charged media practitioners to use their various platforms to canvass more funds to combat malaria, adding that this would go a long way in preventing massive deaths from the disease.

Citing the 2020 World Report on Malaria, which rated Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest number of global malaria cases and highest number of deaths, it demanded re-engagement of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the Global Fund (GF) Malaria grant to continue implementing the civil society component of the programme.

Wondering why Malaria was still a major public health challenge in Nigeria, he lamented that over three billion people were at risk of a preventable and treatable disease globally.

Gofwen, who also stressed how the community-centred initiative being implemented by ACOMIN has been yielding positive results, with little contributions from the media, expressed the hope that the fight against Malaria was achievable with the support of all stakeholders.

He further expressed concern that Nigeria still had a long way to in the control of Malaria, adding: “There is need for all hands to be on deck to ease the difficulty in accessing remote communities due to insecurity in parts of the country.”

Participants at the media briefing which included partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and media practitioners, pledged commitment to reduce the prevalence of the disease in the state.

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