The Kogi State Government, in collaboration with Malaria Consortium, is set to distribute over three million Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) to households across the state to curb malaria.
The plan was unveiled on Thursday at a media parley to flag off the ITN Universal Coverage Campaign at the Ministry of Health.
The campaign will run from November 8 to 16, during which every household will receive treated nets.
The media was charged with clarifying issues, tackling misinformation and educating the public before, during and after the exercise.
In his address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Mr. Mazi Enoch, said the government and its partners were committed to further reducing malaria prevalence in the state, which currently stands at 8.9% in recent surveys.
The External Communications Advisor for Malaria Consortium, Olubunmi Ojelade, said micro-planning, warehouse assessment, personnel deployment and waste management plans had been put in place to ensure a successful campaign.
She declared that “malaria elimination would be achieved through micro planning.
“For this campaign, we are saying that Insecticide Treated Nets distribution is one of the major strategies to deliver nets to the entire population with a goal to scale up coverage and utilisation of ITNs for malaria control.”
Also speaking, Suleiman Rafiat, the State’s Malaria Programme officer urged residents to sleep inside the nets when distributed and not abandon them.
Nigeria still accounts for about 15.9% of the global malaria infection, making sustained awareness, treatment and control critical to achieving elimination.
