World Malaria Day: Pharmacists call for increased awareness

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The pharmacists under the auspices of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, has called for concerted and prompt actions as well as close collaboration with the government and the communities to end the malaria scourge in the country.

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This call was made in a press statement signed by the association’s National Chairman, Pharm. Adewale Oladigbolu.

Oladigbolu, Who spoke on the theme of this year’s celebration “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives”, stressed the need for investments and innovation that will bring new vector control approaches, diagnostics, antimalarial medicines and other tools to speed the pace of progress against malaria.

Quoting the Message from WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti on the commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day, he said the past year has seen significant breakthroughs in malaria prevention and control, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to WHO, “Landmark recommendations on the use of the first vaccine against malaria – RTS, S – were released by the World Health Organization late last year. This vaccine will be used to prevent malaria among children aged six months to five years, who live in moderate- to high-transmission settings.

“While this is a groundbreaking advance in the development of new tools to fight this disease, with the potential to save millions of lives, supplies are currently limited. As such, it is important to ensure that the available doses are utilized for maximum impact while ensuring the continued availability of other preventive measures to those most at risk.

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