TheCable

The Global Fund, a non-profit organisation, says it has supported the distribution of 8.8 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets to residents of Kano state.

In a statement on Wednesday, the organisation said Africa accounted for 95 percent of the estimated 228 million malaria cases recorded globally in 2020, adding that Nigeria had 27 percent of the disease.

Global Fund is a private-public partnership launched in 2002, with focus on leveraging and providing funding to support the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV globally.

Maria Kirova, department head, High Impact Africa 1, Global Fund, said the nets have proven to be an effective method of controlling severe malaria cases in Nigeria.

“Providing mosquito nets as a vector control strategy to protect families from malaria has proven to be effective in reducing the number of severe malaria cases and malaria-related deaths, especially for children and pregnant women who are the most vulnerable to the disease,” she was quoted as saying.

“Today, we celebrate this remarkable achievement and thank the government of Nigeria, the community health workers, and all our global health partners for their commitment.”

On her part, Perpetua Uhomoibhi, director and national coordinator at the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), said collaborations with health partners across the world will positively impact the efforts to prevent malaria in the country.

“Our goal is to increase net coverage by providing mosquito nets to every household to protect them from malaria,” she said.

“The result of this campaign is a great example of how global health partners can achieve remarkable impact. By working together, we can scale up our efforts to reduce the burden of malaria in endemic countries and save more lives.”

Also speaking, John Ocholi, campaign manager for the Kano Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN), said Kano is significant in the fight against malaria in Nigeria.

“If you are fighting malaria in Nigeria and Kano is not in the plan, it is a waste of time,” he said.

“More than twenty thousand people were mobilized – from the government, traditional rulers, religious leaders to community volunteers – to conduct this massive operation. We are very pleased by the outcome, and we thank our partners for supporting Nigeria’s goal to defeat malaria.”

The distribution campaign was implemented by Society for Family Health (SFH) in collaboration with the Kano state government, the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), and Catholic Relief Services (CRS).