Sokoto partners consortium on checking malaria scourge

Sokoto State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu, has called for a more robust collaboration with the Malaria Consortium so as to stop malaria scourge in the state.

Aliyu said this when the Director, Malaria Consortium for West and Central Africa, Dr Maxwell Kolawole, paid a courtesy visit to the governor.

The governor described malaria as one of the major health challenges in the state.

“Since we came on board, we have done so much on health-related issues, especially women and children.

“We have been providing free medical care to pregnant women, the aged and children in our health facilities,” he added.

On the state malaria control programme, Aliyu said several outreach programmes had been carried out with those with complicated malaria cases given medical attention, financial support as well as mosquito-treated nets, among others.

He further said several fumigation exercises had also been carried out within local councils with high cases of malaria as part of the measures to stop malaria spread in the state.

The governor restated his administration’s determination to support any programme geared towards making the state malaria-free.

He commended the Malaria Consortium for working round the clock to stop the spread of malaria in the state.

Earlier, the Director, Malaria Consortium for West and Central Africa, Dr. Maxwell Kolawole, said the consortium has been working in Sokoto State since 2016.

He said the house-to-house administration of oral vaccines against malaria needs to be supported if malaria is to be adequately fought in the state.

Kolawole noted that one of the major setbacks towards ending malaria in the state is inadequate consumption of anti-malaria drugs, especially by children.

“We don’t want cases of malaria among children to snowball into severe cases,” he added.

He further called for support from the state government in ensuring that parents give their children malaria drugs at the right time, including sleeping under mosquito-treated nets.