World Malaria Day

Yesterday was World Malaria Day (WMD). The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that, despite the substantial gains in malaria responses, the disease has remained a major public health threat to people. The WHO at an event in Nairobi Kenya, said the global tally of malaria reached 429,000 deaths and 212 million new cases in 2015, with one child dying from malaria every two minutes. WHO in a report released yesterday titled “Malaria prevention works: Let’s close the gap” showed critical gaps in prevention coverage, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the WHO, more than 663 million cases have been averted in sub-Saharan Africa since 2001. The Director-General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, called for accelerated scale-up of efforts to prevent malaria and save lives. She said: “whom recommended tools have made a measurable difference in the global malaria fight. But we need a much bigger push for prevention, especially in Africa, which bears the greatest burden of malaria.” In view of this, Gombe state Malaria Control Office distributed anti-malaria drugs free of charge to the students of the State University The State Malaria Control Manager, Malam Muhammad Babagana, disclosed this while speaking to Journalists in Gombe. According to him, the students were screened and those found with malaria parasites were given anti-malaria drugs. Babagana said that, the office had also distributed 150 Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) to the students. He said that, the state government was creating awareness on effects of malaria and how students could protect themselves. Babagana said the state government had also inspected the sanitary condition of students’ hostels and had applied some chemicals. He said the state government is giving the office some drugs to treat those that were infected. According to him, anti-malaria drugs are given to pregnant women at ante-natal clinics to prevent malaria. “But the support is not like the years back when we had the full support of the World Bank for Malaria Control Booster Project. “We are appealing to government to do more because we do not have many activities in the office now, and we want to sustain what the World Bank left.