Date: 2019-09-03

Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara says his administration is committed to tackling the scourge of malaria in the state.

Abdulrahman stated this during the flag-off of the malaria-free Kwara campaign and investiture of the champion of Kwara malaria elimination in Ilorin.

According to the governor, Nigeria alone recorded about 300,000 deaths from malaria in 2018.

The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Governor, Alhaji Jubril Momoh, said no serious government would trivialise the global campaign against malaria.

"To that extent, this administration has paid N82million counterpart funds to show commitment to be involved in the global anti-malaria campaign led by the Roll-Back-Malaria Partnership, a donor driven initiative to stamp out the menace of malaria in the world," he said.

The governor observed that Kwara State Malaria Elimination Programme had always been donor funded since 2008, inspite of its strategic importance to the anti-malaria campaign.

He said that the state government would sustain the project and ensure that there was significant decline in malaria cases in Kwara.

Momoh said religious and traditional leaders must support the project by giving consent and creating awareness on its importance.

Speaking earlier at the event, Dr Rhoda Ajiboye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, described malaria as life-threatening and of public health importance.

She explained that it is transmitted to people through the bites of an infected female anopheles mosquitoe.

Ajiboye stated that the symptoms included chills, sweating, fever, vomiting, headache, fatigue and enlarged spleen, among others.

She warned that malaria can also cause anaemia, coma and death, and had accounted for 11 percent of maternal and 30 percent child mortalities, especially among children under five.

According to her, the goal of the campaign is to ensure 100 percent coverage of malaria intervention activities in all health facilities in the state.

Also in his address, Alhaji Abdullahi Nageri, Programme Manager, State Malaria Elimination Programme, appealed to the people to come out to be tested first before treatment.

He said malaria had become resistant to chloroquine injections, adding that people should be tested before taking medication.