By
The
Deputy Head of Mission, U.S. Embassy, David Young, on Monday said that his
country was committed to ending the scourge of malaria in Nigeria.
Young, who stated this in Abuja at the
commemoration of 2017 World Malaria Day organised by the U.S. Embassy, said
prevention and control remained a major U.S. foreign assistance objective.
“The U.S. Government, through Presidential Malaria
Initiative (PMI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is
committed to raising awareness about the proper prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of this disease,” he said.
According to him, the U.S. Government supports
local partners to design and implement programmes to improve public and private
sector adherence to diagnosis and treatment guidelines.
He disclosed that the U.S. invested over 420
million dollars in the fight against malaria in Nigeria since 2010, and 75
million dollars in 2016 alone.
He said that the U.S PMI strategy goal was to work
with PMI-supported countries and partners to further reduce malaria deaths and
substantially decrease malaria morbidity towards the long-term goal of
elimination.
PMI, Young said, delivered nearly 7.5 million Rapid
Diagnostic Tests and 12 million Artemisinin based Combination Therapy (ACT)
treatment doses in support to 3,000 health facilities across 11 states in
Nigeria.
To end malaria for good, Young called on Nigerians
to commit to sleeping in a treated bed net every night and remember that not
every fever is malaria.
He stressed the need to demand a “test before
treatment”, before beginning a full regimen of ACT.
According to him, ending malaria will prevent more
than 80 million illnesses and more than 300,000 related deaths from malaria
annually.
“Ending malaria will increase school attendance,
boost workers’ productivity and significantly lower out-of-pocket cost for
treatment.
“This is why malaria prevention and control remain
a major U.S. foreign assistance objective.
“Each year in Nigeria, more than 80 million people
fall ill and 300,000 die from malaria,” he said.
According to him, early and accurate diagnosis is
essential for rapid and effective disease management and surveillance.
He said that Malaria diagnosis was vital as
misdiagnosis allows disease progression from uncomplicated to severe forms,
resulting in significant morbidity and mortality.
Young said that Nigeria had in 2015 adopted the T3
(test, treat and track) strategy for malaria case management.
He said that the strategy helped to improve
overall management of patients with febrile illnesses and reduced the emergence
and spread of drug resistance to anti-malarial medications.
