A Consultant Medical Parasitologist, Prof. Wellington Oyibo, has appealed to state governments to improve malaria interventions to reduce the country’s malaria burden.
Oyibo, a medical parasitologist, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos, ahead of the April 25
World Malaria Day (WMD).
World Malaria Day is annually celebrated on April 25 to highlight global efforts to end malaria, the need for sustained political commitment and continued investment for malaria control and elimination.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Accelerating the fight against malaria for a more equitable world.”
The consultant, who rated state governments low in malaria interventions due to their over-reliance on Federal Government, added that “malaria occurs and affects thousands of people.”
He, therefore, called for collaborative efforts to reduce the nation’s burden.
The professor stressed that the malaria burden distribution in Nigeria is heterogeneous as it differs from state to state.
“The North has the highest burden of malaria. It has more parasites compared to the South. Lagos is in the pre-elimination phase. We are yet to start tackling malaria from that direction.
“As a country, we are talking about subnational tailoring of intervention. We have Yobe with severe malaria, Kebbi with high prevalence; the country can’t be treated as one again.
“All states should improve their malaria interventions, look at their data – where are they in malaria? What should they do?
“Once states take this on, in a rapid and unique way, Nigeria will see a difference in malaria reduction,” he said.
Oyibo, also a Director at the Centre for Transdisciplinary Research in Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), emphasised the need for state ownership in malaria interventions.
He added that “we were wondering why malaria is so high in Kebbi, Yobe and Sokoto. During research, we discovered a journal of 1946 which showed that there was a Northern Nigeria Malaria Project.
“Where are those projects? Do we still have them running in those states?” he queried.
The professor stressed that treating all fever as malaria was no longer acceptable, noting that states must have effective case management systems for treating positive malaria cases.
Oyibo lamented that overdiagnosis and over-treatment of malaria was prevalent in health facilities nationwide, and far from standard best practices.
He added that “if someone with pneumonia and malaria gets to a health facility and doctor treats that person for malaria alone, that person might die from pneumonia if left untreated because malaria medicine cannot work for pneumonia.”
The professor emphasised regular training, supervision, analysis of malaria data, and adoption of new tools to enhance malaria control.
He called for catalytic movement against malaria among the general population and the healthcare providers through improved awareness and actions.
Oyibo called for strengthened vector control by interrupting the contact between mosquito and humans, advising the public to use long-lasting insect-treated nets and adopt other malaria prevention methods.
He said that malaria was due for elimination as a life-threatening and public health disease with implementation of holistic and targeted interventions.
