Dr Perpetua Uhomoibhi, Director, Monitoring and
Evaluation, National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) in the Federal
Ministry of Health, in this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA highlights the
activities of NMEP in the fight against malaria, saying that the Programme has
adopted several measures to reduce the scourge. Excerpts
What is the ministry doing to combat malaria in
the country?
There
is a policy shift in that the drug for the treatment of malaria that is now
recommended is a combination therapy. We no longer use the mono therapy, which
is only one drug treatment for malaria, due to resistance.
So we have shifted to Artemisini-base Combination
Therapy. You must use Artemisinin and another drug for the treatment of
malaria; so that is a shift from what was obtained in the past.
The National Council on Health has banned the use
of mono-therapy for the treatment of malaria, and we also are trying to eliminate
malaria from Nigeria because its spread is so rapid.
Increased malaria prevention and control measures
are dramatically reducing the malaria burden in many places.
Malaria is a serious disease which can often be
fatal; hence the need to refrain from saying “ordinary malaria” should be
sustained. It is caused by parasites that infect specific mosquitoes.
What is the global outlook of malaria?
According to the latest estimates from World
Health Organisation (WHO), there were 214 million new cases of malaria
worldwide in 2015 (range 149–303 million).
The African region accounted for most global cases
of malaria (88 per cent), followed by the South-East Asia region (10 per cent)
and the Eastern Mediterranean region (two per cent).
In 2015, there were an estimated 438 000 malaria
deaths (range 236 000–635 000) worldwide. Most of these deaths occurred in the
African Region (90 per cent), followed by the South-East Asia Region (seven per
cent) and the Eastern Mediterranean Region (two per cent).
While Nigeria accounts for 1/3 of global malaria
deaths, it is responsible for 1/4 of all infant-related deaths and 1/3 of
deaths in children under five years
But now, globally, there has been a gradual
decrease in both the morbidity and mortality due to malaria. Similarly, in
Nigeria we have also been able to achieve a lot to reduce the national malaria
prevalence from 42 per cent in the survey we did in 2010 to 27 per cent in
2016. That is a significant decrease.
What are the intervention strategies that NMEP is
using to reduce malaria scourge?
What the programme is doing in collaboration with
the malaria partnership – the roll back malaria partnership in Nigeria – is
that they are bringing out different interventions in terms of the prevention,
case management and other cross-cutting issues such as advocacy, monitoring and
social mobilization among others.
In terms of prevention, we are promoting the use
of Long Lasting Insecticide
Treated Nets (LLIN)
for malaria and at the same time, we are promoting
the use of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in pregnancy, in which
we give drugs to pregnant women during their ante natal to prevent them from
getting malaria.
Another strategy in the prevention of malaria, is
the use of indoor residual spraying in the whole house, as well as seasonal
malaria chemo prevention, which is a relatively new strategy in the control of
malaria in Nigeria, and it is targeted to the Sahelian region in the north,
where you have very limited peak transmission season for malaria, about four
months in a year.
There is every need to reduce the disease burden
to a level where it is no longer a public health problem.
Also, efforts should be geared towards
interrupting local mosquito-borne malaria transmission in a defined
geographical area that is zero incidence of locally contracted cases even
though imported cases will continue to occur. Continued intervention measures
are required
All in all, the signals are promising and the
current tools are effective. New tools and ideas are needed to further
accelerate current gains.
As I said earlier, we have reduced malaria to
about 27 per cent in the last couple of years but critically, malaria will
never be eliminated by a single quick fix method.
It has to be a sustained and highly integrated and
coordinated strategy.
What is the place of media in this fight against
malaria?
There is no doubt that malaria is a moving target.
While evidence supports tremendous progress in the global efforts and the
efforts in Nigeria, this is the time to redouble our efforts.
Media is a critical partner in malaria fight
because achieving our goals of attaining malaria-free society will hinge
heavily on the media.
For instance, media was central to the victory on
Ebola; media was central to the knowledge density on HIV/AIDS and media will be
the backbone on which the final success of malaria fight will depend.
