By Chioma Umeha.
LAGOS – Experts have decried the impact of Malaria
during pregnancy noting that parasite denies the fetus nutrients and often
result in low birth weight.
It is estimated that each year over 30 million
women become pregnant in Malaria areas of Africa, with most living in areas of
stable malaria transmission.
Although the vast majority of women with malaria
infections during pregnancy remain asymptomatic, infection increases the risk
of maternal anemia and delivering a low-birth-weight (LBW) baby.
LBW (<2,500 g) is an important risk factor for
infant mortality, and this review focuses on the impact of malaria during
pregnancy on LBW and subsequent infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa.
Reacting to this, Dr. Godwin Ntadom, Head of Case
Management Branch, National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), weekend,
while explaining the dangerous effects of Malaria in pregnancy, stresses that
though the condition may not show that woman is sick, it deprives nutrient from
the unborn baby.
Ntadom says: “At that stage, the woman may not be
sick because the parasite is at the placenta, where it is feeding on the
woman’s nutrients.”
The Head of Case Management Branch, NMEP, spoke on
behalf of the National Coordinator, NMEP, Dr. Audu Bala Mohammed, during a
consultative meeting/training on ways to improve the coverage of malaria by the
media, organized by NMEP in collaboration with Health Communication Capacity
Collaborative (HC3) in Lagos.
He adds: “It is a major programme in Malaria focus
in Nigeria.
He further explains that most malaria infections,
and the most severe morbidity and mortality, are caused by Plasmodium
falciparum. Most P. falciparum infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and the
P. falciparum parasite has been shown to be more common in pregnant than
non-pregnant women and to have a substantial adverse effect on pregnancy
outcome (causing both prematurity (gestation of <37 weeks) and intrauterine
growth retardation (IUGR).
Erythrocytes infected with P. falciparum
congregate in the maternal placental vascular space, where the parasites
replicate. Malaria-infected placentas are frequently observed to carry
antibodies, cytokines, and macrophages, which are indicative of an active
immune response
Mrs. Itohowo Uko, Head, Advocacy, Communication
and Social Mobilisation, who was also at the meeting, says that Malaria control
interventions in Nigeria have evolved over the years with a lot of laudable
strides made in the implementation of activities in the country.
But, she regrets, not many Nigerians are
sufficiently aware of the laudable initiatives and what they can do to prevent
malaria and adds that the purpose of the meeting with journalists is to reverse
this situation.
She further says, Nigerians are taking
anti-malaria when they do not need and stresses; ‘’we need more diagnosis than
medicines.”
