As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Malaria Day, malaria still remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, with lack of use of local content is inhibiting the fight against the disease. With the theme of this year’s celebration is “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”, focusing on the implementation of strategies to reach especially the vulnerable age group children under 5 years and Pregnant women.
The Federal Government is called upon to ensure adequate domestic financing and local manufacturing of malaria drugs and commodities to reduce the scourge of malaria in Nigeria. According to the Chairman House Committee on Media and Publicity, Benjamin Kalu, in a statement to commemorate the 2023 ‘World Malaria Day’, he noted that malaria remains a significant public health challenge with an estimated 97 million cases and 300,000 deaths annually. Although progress has been made in reducing the burden of this disease, much work still needs to be done to eliminate it”.
This is as Nigeria alone accounted for (31.3%) of global malaria deaths, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12.6%), the united republic of Tanzania (4.1%), and Niger (3.9%).