The Nigerian government says it is sad that the Support to National Malaria Programme Phase II, SuNMaP 2 has ended in the country.
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The minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, in an address to the SuNMaP 2 Dissemination Meeting, in Abuja.
He said that Nigeria has learnt a lot from the project and will focus on how to implement the lesson.
Dr. Ehanire also noted that the Nigeria Malaria Elimination project is solely donor driven and would henceforth put mechanism in place to mobilize revenue inwardly.
“It is very painful that we are actually celebrating the departure of the Support to National Malaria Programme Phase II, SuNMaP 2 in Nigeria but however, we look back at all the achievement they have made and we believe that in the very near future, they will look back on Nigeria and say we are back again. From whatever have gained from them we have the energy to forge ahead and in the nearest future, just like China, Nigeria will be declared malaria free‘. The minister said.
He therefore urged the private sector and philanthropists to assist the government in providing funds for the elimination of malaria from the country.
The National Team Lead of the Support to National Malaria Programme Phase II, SuNMaP 2, Dr Lola Mabogunje, in her presentation titled ” Partnership with Government in Achieving Sustainable Malaria Programming”, said that said that the project which was supposed to last for five years, had to be truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said that each of the years of the project was to focus on Transition, Capacity Building, Monitoring and Sustainability.
She muted that the whole essence of the project was to increase domestic funding for malaria in Nigeria.
Dr. Mabogunje also said the Nigerian government needs to commit more to healthcare issues in the country, especially malaria.
“We have not reached the impact level. We stopped in year two. But we have created the idea of sustainability in the minds of Nigerians that programmes can be run without donors. We have created that awareness that people should start thinking beyond donors. How people can be self resilient“. Dr. Mabogunje said.
She said that one thing that is clear now is that Nigeria is thinking inwards on how to source funds to cater for the citizens.
She said that the Support to National Malaria Programme Phase II, SuNMaP 2 is passing the batten to other projects.
The Director National Malaria Elimination Programme, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olufunmilayo Adeniyi, in her presentation titled “Malaria Programming in Nigeria: Journey towards Sustainable Programming”, said Nigeria now have enough energy to forge ahead as a result of lessons learnt.
She noted that 27% of global malaria cases, 23% of malaria deaths and 57 million clinical cases of malaria are in Nigeria.
She said that malaria has remained a public health issue and that Nigeria has put interventions in place to eliminate the disease.
“We are having insecticide treated nets mass campaign across the national where we expect that all the household should sleep under insecticide treated nets. This will prevent malaria in adults, pregnant women and children. Also we expect all pregnant women to visit antenatal care during pregnancy whereby they can take the IPTP, which is malaria treatment for pregnant women. This will prevent the woman and the unborn baby. So we are not relaxing in any area at all” Dr. Adeniyi said.
The the Support to National Malaria Programme Phase II, SuNMaP 2 held in six states of the federation.
The states are Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Yobe and the FCT.
Kano state was particularly commended for a job well done.
The Kano state Programme Manager, State Malaria Elimination Programme, in the ministry of Health, Mr Babangida Musa, said the state was successful because it has political will and continuity plans.
He added that the state has a five year basket fund where resources are pulled together to take care of issues surrounding malaria.
Other development partners who worked on the project commended the initiative, saying that it served a good purpose despite the short period it lasted.
SuNMaP 2 is a UK aid-funded follow-up to SuNMaP that supported the Nigerian government’s efforts to further reduce Nigeria’s malaria burden.
