The Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF) has conducted free medical tests and distributed over 500 treated mosquito nets to reduce the prevalence of the disease in Lugbe community of FCT-Abuja.Speaking at the event on Tuesday, the Executive Director of the foundation, Dr Arome Salifu, lamented that every 30 seconds, a child die from malaria that could be prevented and cured.
The theme for the 2023 World Malaria Day is: “Time to deliver zero malaria: Invest, innovate and implement”.
Salifu, represented by the Head of Project Delivery of AYGF, Ms Omonike Oyedele, said the foundation is making efforts to reduce the severe impact of malaria on families and communities to promote healthy living as well as enhance societal development.
“Malaria is particularly devastating in Sub-Saharan Africa where it has significant social and economic consequences,” she said.
“The latest World Malaria Report, again confirmed the continent of Africa as home to 95 per cent of malaria cases and 96 per cent of malaria deaths.
“More worrisome is that children under five years accounted for 80 per cent of the deaths caused by the malarial parasite,” she said.
According to her, Nigeria accounted for 31 per cent of global malarial deaths which resulted in 191,890 lives lost annually.
“This contributed to the 619,000 estimated number of malarial deaths on the continent, which carries a disproportionately high share of the global malarial burden.
“While progress has been made in expanding access to malaria services for at-risk populations, too many people are still not receiving the needed services towards preventing, detecting and treating the disease.
“This is compounded by various challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict imposed humanitarian crises, funding gaps, weak surveillance systems, and declining effectiveness of malaria-fighting tools,” she said.
According to Salifu, to address some of these challenges, the AYGF is establishing more robust malaria programmes in Katsina, Kogi and Niger States, covering over 2,000 communities.
She added that the foundation’s programmes has reached about one million individuals, including pregnant women and children, and still counting.
She explained that AYGF’s intervention, supported by the World Bank project’s Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN), has developed guidance, strategies and frameworks to enhance the transparency, flexibility and access to malaria tools.
“Through these interventions, AYGF is tackling technical challenges facing malaria implementation, especially the barriers people encounter in accessing quality health services.
“By bringing malaria commodities closer to where people live and work through primary healthcare centres in those communities, the cost of care is reduced and equity is enhanced.
“However, the Nigerian government’s approval of a new malaria vaccine from Oxford University, the R21/Matrix-M, is also commendable.
“The vaccine designed to prevent malaria in children aged 5 to 36 months was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
“We are hopeful that this vaccine and other interventions will soon make malaria a thing of the past in Africa, particularly in Nigeria.
“AYGF will continue to partner with government of Nigeria and other stakeholders in enhancing quality of healthcare and deliver zero malaria through investment, innovation and implementation of people centric malaria interventions,” Salifu stressed.
Responding, the Village Head of Lugbe Village, Mr Danlami Cheta, appreciated AYGF for its intervention to reduce the prevalence of malaria in his community.
“It is a good programme for us that we will never forget. It is wise to bring such a programme in this community, because malaria is seriously dealing with my people.
“This is as a result of the environment and that is why when I took over office last year, I have been sensitising people on the need to have a clean environment.
“We thank AYGF for making us to benefit from this malaria programme of treatment of malaria and distribution of mosquito treated nets to my people.
“We will be glad for this relationship between the community and AYGF continuous, and not on malaria alone, but other health interventions. We can not pay you back. It is only God that will pay you. Thank you AYGF,” he said.
Meanwhile, a beneficiary, Hajiya Fatima Maina, who was tested for malaria and given mosquito net, said the intervention would go a long way to help the residents of Zhilu community in Lugbe, Abuja.
“Our people are suffering from this malaria and other health challenges. The malaria is affecting us, because of the nature of our community with stagnant water everywhere.
“There ares gutters everywhere and the mosquitoes are too much, especially in the heat season and the raining season that has started.
“The nets are giving us free of charge will help us so much. Most of us don’t have means to and cannot buy because of poverty. So the nets and malaria drugs given to us are very important.
“It will be helpful to all of us in the community. We appreciate AYGF for the effort they made to get our community to benefit from this programme. Other NGOs should emulate AYGF please,” Maina said.
Newsmen report that the foundation had tested and provided mosquito nets for free to over 500 residents, including sensitisation on the disease and how to use the nets.
