From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Nigeria is expected to save over N2 trillion if malaria is curtailed at the end of 2030.
Briefing newsmen on the commemoration of World Mosquito Day in Abuja, yesterday, Minister of Environment, Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi said that World Health Organization (WHO), rated Nigeria
World’s highest malaria burden with an annual reported cases of 55 million and 207,000 deaths representing nearly 30 per cent of the total maana burden in Pica.
According to him, it is also estimated that nearly 173 million Nigerians are at the risk of being infected.
He said that the absence from school on the part of infected school children are basic and prominent aspects of concern owing to the high rate of man-hour loss.
“Similarly, it is estimated that Nigerians lose money running into hundreds of billions of naira wherein every infected person treats just a bout of malaria infection with an average of two thousand naira twice every year.
“Several efforts are being made internationally, nationally and locally to combat the malaria scourge. Only recently, the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhan inaugurated the Nigeria End Malaria Council (NEMC) where he mandated it to ensure successful implementation of the council’s programme that should translate into N2 trillion savings from the estimated economic burden of the disease by 2030” he said adding that the Ministry of Environment was set to achieve the target set for the NEMC.
The minister noted that the advantage of mosquito life cycle control through environmental sanitation and physical attack is that in addition to malaria control, it also helps in tackling the menace of diseases such as yellow fever which is caused by aedes mosquito species and encephalitis caused by virus-bearing culex species.
“Furthermore, the capabilities of harbouring not only parasites like plasmodium in the case of malaria, make mosquitoes more dreadful. For instance, they can be intermediate host for filariasis, yellow fever and dengue fever” he said.
Abdullahi also noted that the federal government would ensure working with the sub nationals and local governments on matters of disease vectors control as a sure means of attaining the goal of mosquito elimination from Nigeria.
” On their part, Local Government Environmental Health Authorities should make adequate logistics provision for conduct of Environmental Health Surveillance in domestic, commercial and industrial premises and ensure reporting of activities accordingly” he stated. ENDS