Ending The Scourge Of Malaria 

The fight against malaria experienced some setbacks worldwide in 2020. The outbreak of Coronavirus
shifted global attention towards its fight and prevention and away from several other diseases.  The result was an increase in deaths from malaria from 558,000 in 2019 to 627,000 in 2020. Moreover, the number of cases increased from 227 million in 2019 to 241 million in 2020. This shows a 6.17% increase in incidents and a 12.37% increase in deaths to malaria in 2020.
To put the world back on track, this year’s World Malaria Day (WMD) is tagged “Harness Innovation to Reduce the Malaria Disease Burden and Save Lives.” This aims to rechannel funds, efforts, and attention towards the fight against malaria to eradicate it by 2030. The World Health Organisation (WHO), which established April 25 each year as WMD in 2007, explained that this is to underscore the collective energy and commitment of the global malaria community in uniting around the common goal of a world free of malaria.
Given the ravages of the disease globally and particularly in Nigeria, this project should be strongly prosecuted and with many more resources. Experts are disturbed that despite efforts to contain the illness, Nigeria loses over $1.1 billion (N645.7 billion) yearly to prevention and treatment of the disease and other costs. According to them, malaria killed no fewer than 200,000 Nigerians and afflicted 61 million others in 2021. They also said Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Tanzania and Mozambique accounted for over half of all malaria deaths.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease. It is caused by a parasite transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. It is the most deadly creature in the world in casualty rates. Through its bite, it injects the plasmodium parasite in humans, which has five species, with P falciparum, the most deadly. WHO said there were 241 million cases of malaria reported worldwide in 2020. It killed 627,000 persons that year. Not surprisingly, 95 per cent of the cases were found in sub-Saharan Africa and 96 per cent of the deaths.
The World Malaria Report 2021 reaffirmed the sorry reality of Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries: 80 per cent of all malaria deaths in the region were of children under age five. This is an unacceptably high toll that should be reversed at all costs. President Muhammadu Buhari and all the state governors should pay attention to these appalling figures.
Nigeria, with 31.9 per cent of the total, led three other African countries to account for over half of the total global deaths. It was followed by Congo DR’s 13.2 per cent; Tanzania’s 4.1 per cent, and Mozambique’s 3.8 per cent. One study described malaria as Nigeria’s topmost public health challenge, accounting for 30 per cent of all under-five deaths, 25 per cent of deaths in infants and 11 per cent of maternal mortality.
The United States Centers for Disease Control declared, “Costs to governments include maintenance, supply, and staffing of health facilities; purchase of drugs and supplies; public health interventions against malaria, such as insecticide spraying or distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets; lost days of work with resulting loss of income; and lost opportunities for joint economic ventures and tourism.” It estimates combined direct costs to the afflicted areas at $12 billion each year.
In addition, malaria increases Africa’s GDP by 1.3 per cent yearly. This is heart-wrenching for a continent that lags behind all others on the development index. Nevertheless, the good thing is that the disease is both preventable and curable. Following the disturbing statistics from the global health body, Nigeria must purposefully trigger and restart old operations.
Nigeria has been unable to utilise global interventions to reduce the intensity of the disease. Sadly, both the 1998 Roll Back Malaria project aimed at malaria burden reduction by at least 50 per cent, and the 2005 Abuja Declaration to upturn malaria encumbrance, were improperly implemented. To date, the country has not done much to reverse the trend. Like other national programmes, inconsistency and poor enforcement have dogged it.
Both the federal and state governments have to carry out actions to exterminate malaria. They should execute programmes to preserve a healthy environment for vector control, make insecticide-treated nets available free to homes, finance preventative and remedial medicines, and rigorously embrace the WHO regulations on malaria control. Corrupt government officials who misappropriate donated insecticide-treated nets for personal profit should be prosecuted.
Hospitals need to be equipped, while medical workers should be motivated. There is a need to clear drainages and retool the Primary Health Centres to turn the tide against malaria. Local governments should fund health centres, accompanied by effective sanitation activities. The sanitary inspection system that was effective in the First Republic should be revived, upgraded, well-funded and its staff trained and encouraged.
In a goodwill message on the occasion, the Rivers State Government reiterated its political will and commitment to reducing the disease burden of Rivers people. The Deputy Governor, Dr Ipalibo Harry Banigo, stated this in Government House, Port Harcourt, to commemorate World Malaria Day 2022. Under the watch of the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, the prevalence rate of malaria had reduced significantly to 11.3 per cent against the national prevalence of 24 per cent, she noted.
Further statistics from WHO State Coordinator, Dr Okafor Chinenye, revealed that Rivers State was closest to achieving WHO’s pre-elimination phase of 5 per cent positivity rate. Chinenye, who was represented by WHO’s Information, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Focal Point in the state, Mr Akuneto Reagan, said the last national survey of 2018, showed that the state had the lowest malaria prevalence in the entire South-South zone at 11%.
With that, Rivers modestly ranks among the best five states in Nigeria. This gigantic success, no doubt, is credited to Governor Wike whose robust health policy in the state is second to none. While we sincerely commend the government for the monumental achievement, the good news is a reason to be more cautious to ensure that more is done to keep the state continuously on the malaria elimination track.
As part of our commitment to the reduction of the malaria burden and saving lives in the state, Rivers people must take responsibility to keep their environment clean, get rid of stagnant water, sleep under insecticide-treated bed nets, and test for malaria before medication in the quest to control and eliminate the ailment. Importantly, the federal and state governments should fund preventive treatment during pregnancy to decrease the burden of malaria in pregnant women, as experts say pregnancy reduces a woman’s immunity to malaria.