Cross River State, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau and Zamfara have been chosen by the US government through United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to benefit from its $90 million malaria control efforts in vulnerable Nigerian states.
A statement by the agency on Wednesday, said USAID's Nigeria’s Mission Director, Anne Patterson, joined the Coordinator of Nigeria’s National Malaria Elimination Programme, Dr. Perpetua Uhomoibhi, to launch a new activity to control the country’s leading killer of children – malaria – in rural areas of eight vulnerable states.
Nigeria is one of the leading countries in the world with highest mortality rate arising from malaria, with children being the worst hit.
The statement said: “Over the next five years, the $90 million President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) will serve as the flagship activity for the global U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Nigeria.”
The statement added that since 2010, PMI-S has provided $712 million in investments, including the distribution of over 61 million insecticide treated bed nets (ITN), which are now in 43 per cent of all households, twice the rate before the intervention.
According to Patterson, “In Nigeria, members of low-income households in rural areas are seven times more likely to contract malaria than urban dwellers. Because these communities also have limited access to prevention and treatment services, it is critically important to reach these populations to reduce malaria.”
It added that in partnership with state governments, PMI-S will improve the quality of and access to malaria services, promote evidence-based decision making, boost drug-based prevention and treatments, and strengthen health systems and programme management.
The statement further explained that the new activity builds on the success of earlier PMI-supported malaria interventions in Nigeria, which has helped the national rate of malaria infection decrease by 16 per cent – even higher for children under five – since PMI began operating in Nigeria. PMI has also helped increase the likelihood a pregnant woman receives malaria prophylaxis fourfold.
Revealing the gains so far, it said that led by USAID and implemented with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the last year, in addition to distribution of ITNs – provided 22 million doses of prophylaxis to pregnant women, 6.9 million doses to children and 129 million treatment doses at health facilities and in communities.
Another 62 million rapid tests helped health workers properly diagnose and treat patients for malaria and other fevers. PMI-S is implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH).
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