World Malaria Day: U.S. has spent $75m annually to fight disease

The United States government has disclosed that it has spent $75 million annually in the last four years to combat the malaria scourge in Nigeria.

The US Deputy Chief of Mission, David J. Young disclosed this at its embassy in Abuja.

He said: “Today, April 25, people across the World would lend their voices and renew commitments as part of global events to control malaria.”

He disclosed that Nigeria had also received approximately $419 million from the U.S. government President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) between 2010 and 2016.

According to him, Nigeria received the largest PMI budget among the 19 PMI countries in Africa. The PMI is led by United States Agency for International Development, USAID and complemented by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

Young restated the US government’s commitment to the global movement to end malaria and urged stakeholders to play their roles to achieve the goal.

He stressed the need to end the malaria scourge to prevent more than 80 million estimated illnesses and 300,000 related deaths annually.

He said: “Ending malaria would increase school attendance, boost worker productivity and significantly lower out-of-pocket cost for treatment.”

He added that this explained why malaria prevention and control had remained the major objective of the US foreign assistance.

Young stressed that the huge numbers of illnesses and deaths, motivated the PMI and USAID to commit itself to raising the awareness about the proper prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

He said experts had warned that early and accurate diagnosis was essential for rapid and effective disease management and surveillance.

He stressed that malaria diagnosis was important, as any misdiagnosis would allow the disease’s progression from uncomplicated to severe forms, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality.