WHO Official Urges More Funding For Malaria Prevention Programme

A National Officer on Ma
laria with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and public Health Epidemiologist, Dr Tolu Arowolo, has called for an increase in the funding of Malaria prevention programme to expand access to its prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Arowolo, made the call in an interview with newsmen Monday, in Lagos.
Arowolo said that increased funding would also tackle the challenges of Malaria-Drug- Resistance (MDR), as well as the emerging trend of Mosquitoes’ Resistance to insecticides.
She said “increased malaria funding is needed in order to save lives and further expand access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment services. “This is even more critical given the urgent need to tackle Malaria-Drug-Resistance and other emerging trend such as Mosquitoes’ resistance to insecticides.
While noting that there is a global consensus to reduce malaria mortality and incidence rate by at least 90 per cent by 2030 and eliminate malaria, Arowolo called on stakeholders to focus on targeting available resources at places where the burden of malaria is highest and at the people and groups who face the highest risk of the disease.
In her words“I will also like to urge stakeholders to invest in national and community treatment in order to search every suspected case of malaria before treatment. “All confirmed malaria cases should also be documented and reported in order to determine the geographical areas where malaria is most prevalent”.
She maintained that WHO regional Office for Africa will continue to provide evidence-based guidelines to better target malaria intervention, to strengthen national health service towards universal health coverage as well as accelerate progress towards a malaria-free Africa.’’
According to the WHO‘s report, an estimated 100 million malaria cases and about 300, 000 deaths occur in Nigeria each year, which makes the country the highest with malaria cases and fatalities worldwide.