Nigeria’s Federal Government has taken measures, including the establishment of an Advisory on Malaria Elimination in Nigeria (AMEN) and the Ministerial Task Force on Malaria Elimination to kick malaria out of the country.
A statement by Tashikalmah Hallah, Special Adviser on Media & External Relations to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate said that malaria poses a significant burden on Nigeria in terms of mortality, morbidity, loss of manhour, out-of-pocket expenses as well as government investments in treatments and interventions.
The minister emphasised that despite being preventable and treatable, malaria continues to pose a major challenge to the country.
“Therefore, we need a paradigm shift from the standard approach to a more proactive and result-oriented method of defeating this disease.
“On this premise, we invited academics, malaria programme experts, development partners, private sectors, civil societies, business enthusiasts, policymakers as well as the political class to a roundtable discussion to rethink the country’s approaches and strategic views on malaria, which culminated in the setting up of the Advisory for Malaria Elimination in Nigeria.”
