SIR: The #EndMalariaInNigeria received with mixed feelings news of the inauguration of Nigeria End Malaria Council by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday 17th August 2022 in Abuja.
The President told the 16-member council headed by the founder and president of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, that beyond improving the quality of life, health and well-being of Nigerians, the concerted strategy to tackle malaria had both public health as well as socio-economic benefits for Nigeria.
Nigeria records the highest malaria case and mortality globally, which has continued to cause preventable loss of human lives, especially pregnant women and children.
In 1998, four international organisations united to Roll Back Malaria. They include the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP and WHO. Despite the millions of dollars invested, the project was a failure and malaria continues to take millions of lives annually.
The National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) is domiciled in the National Malaria and Vector Control Division in the Department of Public Health of the Federal Ministry of Health, yet the purpose of establishing this body has not been achieved.
It’s our view that constituting such a council of businessmen and women is to continue to make business out of malaria.
Malaria is transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito which survives on water and this makes it purely an environmental problem.
For too long, the government has neglected factors that enhance breeding space for mosquitoes and the involvement of environmental health professionals as major partners in eliminating malaria, thereby focusing efforts on fighting malaria rather than the vector that transmits “Malaria.”
For instance, the fight against malaria is often spearheaded by medical personnel and, in some cases, lawyers, politicians etc who have no knowledge of Integrated Vector Control and larvae source management, but the desire to make business out of the malaria crises.
This was replicated in the recent Nigeria End Malaria Council constituted by President Buhari that comprised businessmen/women, politicians and medical background individuals without Environmental Health Ministry/Environmental Health experts, professional associations like the Pest Association of Nigeria (PECAN) etc.
We also wish to correct the impression made by the Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire, and Minister of State for Health, Ekumankama Joseph Nkama: “The biggest challenge confronting us, which prevents the elimination of malaria, to ensure a malaria-free nation in the shortest possible time, is inadequate finances to fund the NMSP.”
It’s on record that there has been financial support from international agencies like USAID, UNDP, WHO and other malaria support partners and individuals. The government through the ministry of health makes a huge budget available in fighting tropical diseases like malaria; but the disbursement of such funds in the past 20 years cannot be accounted for on paper and in meaningful projects that lead to malaria elimination. So, the minister can’t say that funding is a limitation in the fight.
We call on President Buhari to immediately, through the Ministry of Environment, empower the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON) to liaise with professional bodies like PECAN, environmental health experts in drawing a national blueprint toward ending the malaria vector in Nigeria, which must include modern drainage system construction, solid and liquid waste management etc.
To roll back malaria, we must roll back mosquitoes as prevention is better and cheaper than cure.
- Francis Nwapa,
Convener,
#EndMalariaInNigeria