Stronger political will, clear commitment needed in fight against malaria, says researcher 

Angela Onwuzoo

A malaria expert and former National Malaria Technical Director, Professor Olugbenga Mokuolu, has appealed to Nigerians not to treat malaria with levity as it is a deadly disease that accounts for nearly 200,000 deaths in the country annually.

He said people should adopt standard measures in protecting themselves from mosquitoes such as sleeping under insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with PUNCH Healthwise, Prof. Mokuolu, who is a Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, said it has become crucial for people to adopt standard precautions against malaria considering the number of lives that are lost to the disease every year.

The researcher also said that malaria is not just a disease for the health sector but an economic burden to the nation.

For the malaria expert, tackling the disease should not just be a business for the government but it for everyone to ensure there is interruption in the spread of malaria parasites.

The World Health Organisation described malaria as a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

According to the global health body, vector control is a vital component of malaria control and elimination strategies as it is highly effective in preventing infection and reducing disease transmission.

“The two core interventions are insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying.

“Over the last two decades, expanded access to WHO-recommended malaria prevention tools and strategies – including effective vector control and the use of preventive antimalarial drugs – has had a major impact in reducing the global burden of malaria”, WHO stated.

Prof. Mokuolu said the time has come for total eradication of malaria in Nigeria and that it can be achieved through collective efforts and a clean environment.

He said, “Malaria is an interaction between man, mosquito, environment, and the parasite itself. It is four-way traffic. The mosquito that carries the parasite does well in an environment that is warm, and Nigeria is warm all year round.

“We also have the challenge of poor environmental management; we have ghettos, urban slums, and blocked drainages that ensure stagnant water is always around for mosquitoes to breed.

“So, one of those standard precautions is for people to concentrate more on environmental cleanliness, particularly clearing of drainages, to avoid storage of water in open containers and sleeping under insecticide-treated net. These are the important measures people should take.”

The researcher urged Nigerians to take anything that has to do with malaria seriously and to avoid taking measures that could be detrimental to their health in the quest to prevent mosquito bites and malaria.

“Malaria is a killer and deadly disease that should not be treated with kid gloves. It accounts for nearly 200,000 deaths in Nigeria every year. I don’t think there is any other condition that is singularly responsible for that number of deaths in the country in a year.

“We need a stronger political will demonstrated by a clear commitment to the fight against malaria as expressed by fund allocation and release to ensure full coverage of all malaria interventions to all eligible populations”,  he said.

The 2021 Nigeria Malaria Indicator Survey Report showed that the malaria prevalence in the country stood at 22 per cent in 2021.

The NMIS report indicated that malaria prevalence is highest among children aged 48 to 59 months with its prevalence highest in the northwest at 51.6 percent.

Other key findings of the report also show that “56 per cent of households own at least one insecticide-treated net.

According to the 2021 World Malaria Report by the WHO, Nigeria contributes 27 per cent to the global malaria burden (one out of every four persons having malaria) and 32 per cent to malaria deaths globally (about one out of every three deaths).

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