...as Partners commend KWSG

Kwara State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam, today received the Implementation team of the Integrated Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) and Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) campaign for year 2023 on a debrief mission at the Ministry of Health headquarters at Fate, Ilorin.

Presenting the report, the Integrated SMC/ITN Campaign Manager, Mr. Christopher Dangana, of the Society for Family Health (SFH) said after making relevant analysis of the implementation indices, stated that "our assessment of the exercise in Kwara is 99% based on coverage and 89.5% based on distribution of the 2.3 million ITN donated to the state through the Global Fund grant.

Speaking further, Mr. John Ocholi, who is the director technical and programme for the Society for Family Health (SFH), stated that 'seven thousand six hundred and eighteen (7,618) personnel were deployed, trained and will be handsomely rewarded across all cadres for the year 2023 SMC/ITN Implementation in the state'.

"We had a successful flag-off ceremony hosted by the state government, where the governor demonstrated sleeping inside the net and SPAQ administration signifying the safety of the Insecticide Treated Net/SPAQ and a successful LGA based flag-off ceremonies across the 16 LGAs to increase awareness on ITN and SPAQ acceptance at the community level".

In her remark, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. El-lmam, expressed her profound appreciation on behalf of the Kwara State Government to the National Malaria Elimination Programme and the multiple implementing Partners for the cooperation in ensuring the people of Kwara benefit maximally from the Malaria prevention intervention.

The Commissioner further applauded the significant role played by the Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in the success recorded.

'The payment of counterpart funds, its prompt release for the exercise, His Excellency's physical presence at the flag-off, sleeping inside the net and thereby going ahead to endorse its use were critical point that accounted for our success in addition to the unwavering cooperation of the health workers. I appreciate you all', She said.

Furthermore, the Commissioner stated 'that I am highly motivated by the collaborative efforts of the multiple implementing partners, including the Society for Family Health, the National Malaria Elimination Programme, the Catholic Relief Services, the World Health Organization, amongst others, whose collective contributions significantly contributed to the resounding success of the programme'.

The debrief also featured an interaction with the integrated campaign coordinating network (ICCN) comprising media experts, health educators, social mobilizers, and members of the civil society groups. The team reported a total number of 2,356,624 ITNs distributed among 771,035 households, while 573,842 SPAQ was distributed.

The report further revealed that the "total number of children reached in cycle 4 is 504,106, and total number of SPAQ 1 administered, to children less than 12 months, in cycle 4 is 104,319, while the total number of SPAQ 2 administered to children between 12 months and 59 months, in cycle 4 is 469,522', he said.

Ocholi said, "We had a successful flag-off ceremony hosted by the state government, where the governor demonstrated sleeping inside the net and SPAQ administration, signifying the safety of net/SPAQ and the successful LGA flag-off ceremonies across the 16 LGAs to increase awareness on ITN and SPAQ acceptance at the community level".