Lara Adejoro The Federal Government has established an advisory board on malaria elimination and a ministerial taskforce on malaria elimination in Nigeria. This was disclosed in a press statement signed by Tashikalmah Hallah, the Senior Adviser, Media and External Relations to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammed Pate. According to the statement, the advisory board and taskforce are to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination in the country.
Malaria—a life-threatening disease caused by parasites transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes—occurs regularly and is widespread across Nigeria. The World Health Organisation estimates that Nigeria had nearly 67 million cases in 2022, accounting for 27 per cent of the global malaria burden. Also in 2022, Nigeria accounted for 31 per cent of global deaths and 38 per cent of global deaths in children under the age of five.
While inaugurating the advisory board and ministerial taskforce, Pate pointed out that malaria poses a significant burden on Nigerians in terms of mortality, morbidity, loss of work hours, out-of-pocket expenses, and government investments in treatments and interventions. He emphasised that despite being preventable and treatable, malaria continues to be a major challenge for the country. Pate stated, “Therefore, we need a paradigm shift from the standard approach to a more proactive and result-oriented method of defeating this disease.
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