By Ihechinyere Chigemeri-Uwom
Umuahia, April 25, 2024
The Wife of Abia Governor, Mrs. Priscilla Otti, says her office will embark on an intensive campaign against malaria in rural communities of the state to eradicate the disease.
Mrs. Otti said this on Thursday at an event organised in Umuahia by the Abia Government and PanAfricare Consortium to commemorate the 2024 World Malaria Day in the state.
The theme of the celebration was: “Accelerating the fight against Malaria for a more equitable world”.
The governor’s wife described the theme as a call to stakeholders to partner with the government and actively participate in the fight against the scourge, especially in the hinterlands.
“The attainment of a zero-malaria status by the state is achievable and the work begins with all of us,” she said.
She said that studies reveal that the state had high malaria burden and that pregnant women and children under five were the most affected.
Otti said that as part of efforts to eliminate the disease from the state, the government would ensure that the new malaria vaccine gets to Abia.
She urged the people to stop assuming that any feverish condition they experience was a symptom of malaria.
She also warned on the dangers of self-medication in treating malaria and urged the people to always visit the primary healthcare center closest to them for proper medical diagnosis and treatment.
In a speech, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okonkwo, said the government had evolved programmes that would ensure citizens had access to quality healthcare.
Okonkwo, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Ifeyinwa Umah-Kalu, urged the people to take advantage of the provisions made by the government to tackle the disease.
In a remark, the Executive Secretary of Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Kalu Kalu, said the agency had evolved robust interventions for treating and preventing malaria.
Kalu, represented by Mr. Solomon Kalu, appealed to stakeholders to support government’s efforts to eradicate the disease.
In an address, the Country Director of PanAfricare Consortium, Dr Patrick Adah, said that his organisation was working in partnership with the government to eliminate malaria in Abia.
Adah said: “We have held community outreaches to facilitate our campaign against malaria in the hinterlands, where you have the disadvantaged groups.
“We have distributed over 50,000 Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy tablets, 20,000 Sulfadoxine/Pyrimethamine, 73000 rapid diagnostic test kits and 246,000 insecticide treated nets.”
He said that his organisation’s partnership with the government entailed ensuring that tools for preventing and treating malaria were readily available in the primary healthcare centers across the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Malaria is celebrated every April 25 across the globe.
