953 lives lost to malaria in Borno in 4 years – Official

Prof. Isa Marte, Borno state Acting Commissioner of Health, has disclosed that the state recorded 953 deaths, out of the over one million cases of malaria recorded in the state, from 2017 to 2020.

Marte made this known on Sunday, in Maiduguri, while briefing newsmen, in commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day.

“The 2020 World Malaria Report shows that Nigeria continues to account for 25 per cent of the estimated global malaria burden, with mortality associated with malaria standing at over 80 000.

“In Borno, persons confirmed with malaria in 2020 stood at 359,366 with 370 deaths, the figure for 2019 was 330,587 with 240 deaths, 2018 was 237,971 with 110 deaths and 2017 was 143 with 231 deaths, according to DHIS2 routine data.

“These figures show that there has been an upward trend in cases from 2017 to 2020. This may be due to improvement in the reporting system and training on HMIS version, 2019 data tools, to monitoring and evaluation at all levels, across the state in recent years.

“However, a downward trend in deaths can also be observed, which could be attributed to improvement in early diagnosis and prompt treatment of malaria cases across the state,” Marte said.

He noted that the state government, through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), in collaboration with other partners, ensured that 70.4 per cent of households had mosquito nets.

Marte also said that the state had observed four rounds of uninterrupted Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), largely due to the support of stakeholders like, NMEP and WHO, by which over two million children, between three months to five years, were reached every year. “We have witnessed an uninterrupted supply of anti-malarial commodities, especially the supply of Long Lasting Insecticide treated nets.

“These were given free to pregnant women during antenatal care, children under five during immunisation sessions, and to newly resettled communities across the state via the Saving One Million lives programme, since 2017.

“The state government is finalising plans for a 10-year scale up of all malaria interventions across the state, through a soft credit support from the World Bank, effective this year, “he said.

Marte commended the support of partners like WHO, UNICEF, MSF, INTERSOS, Mentor Initiative, among others.

He urged the media to continue to mobilise members of the public to avail themselves of the services provided in the fight against malaria, for maximum impact. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Malaria Day was established by the WHO, and is celebrated globally on April 25 every year, to create awareness on malaria and discuss ways of preventing the scourge.

The 2021 theme is “Zero Malaria – Draw the Line Against Malaria”, while the slogan is, “Stand up and take action,” aimed at exploring and connecting the malaria scourge for elimination. (NAN).