The disclosure that Nigeria accounts for 27 per cent of malaria prevalence and 33 per cent of fatalities worldwide is not encouraging. This is an indication that there has not been remarkable improvement in the fight against malaria in the country. According to the World Malaria Report, Nigeria, for many years, has accounted for the highest percentage of global malaria burden in the world. Malaria is transmitted all over Nigeria, and 97 per cent of the populations are at risk of being infected with malaria. The slight improvement recorded in the fight against malaria a few years ago has been undone by the latest study.
Malaria case incidence in Nigeria was relatively stable between 2021 and 2022, from 306 to 305 per 1000 of the population at risk. The death incidence also decreased by 3.3 per cent, from 0.9 to 0.87 per 1000 of the population at risk. In 2022, 27 per cent of the global estimated malaria cases and 31 percent of the estimated deaths worldwide were attributed to Nigeria. Also, an estimated 55 per cent of malaria cases in West Africa in 2022 were attributed to Nigeria. The percentage of fatalities arising from malaria increased from 31 per cent in 2022 to 33 per cent in 2025.
Many factors have been identified with these alarming figures. Sanitation management and vegetation that favour mosquito breeding have been linked with the persistent rise in malaria transmission. Nigeria’s large population is also another cogent reason. To reverse this ugly trend, effort should be made to address the identified factors that fuel malaria spread and fatalities in Nigeria.
The current 2021–2025 National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) of the Federal Government is based on the vision of achieving a malaria-free Nigeria with a goal of reducing malaria morbidity to less than 10 per cent of parasite prevalence and mortality attributable to malaria to less than 50 deaths per 1,000 by 2025. Only eight months is left until the end of 2025 to execute this herculean task. It is commendable that the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) initiated the High Burden High Impact (HBHI) approach with technical support from the WHO and technical partners to address the malaria scourge in the country. The nation’s health authorities should review the existing initiatives to end malaria and see why they have not achieved the desired results. We hope that the $364 million funds secured by the Federal Government from the World Bank, African Development Bank, and Islamic Development Bank to fund health sector interventions in 13 states of the federation for five years (2020–2024) for malaria will boost the war against malaria and reduce the high malaria prevalence in the country.
Good enough, the war against malaria recently boosted with new drugs and test kits donated by the WHO and GAVI to assist in combating malaria. The Federal Government must ensure that these drugs are judiciously used. Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, described the arrival of the malaria vaccine as a monumental step in our national efforts to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. With the support of UNICEF, GAVI, and WHO, Nigeria will achieve its goal of a malaria-free nation. Under the current arrangement, the donated malaria vaccine, which requires four doses, will be administered to children under the age of one year as part of Nigeria’s routine immunisation schedule. The first phase of the rollout will begin in Kebbi and Bayelsa states, where malaria prevalence is particularly high, with over 800,000 doses set to be distributed during this phase.
The donated kits include Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), which have been effective in curtailing the spread of malaria in the country. Record shows that Nigerian households with access to an ITN increased from 47 per cent in 2018 to 56 per cent in 2021 (MIS). Research shows that those that sleep under a net have a low possibility of contracting malaria. Households who cannot be reached immediately with ITN should strive to buy them to save lives. The seasonal malaria chemoprevention strategy of the ministry of health should be sustained in all LGAs in line with WHO directive to eligible children between 3 and 59 months of age.
About 28.9 million children were covered with Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) in 2023, making Nigeria the country with the largest number of children reached with SMC. The ministry of health and its agencies deserve commendations for this remarkable feat. We believe that the operational challenges in the North-East region due to the displacement of communities by insurgency and attacks on health workers would soon be overcome. Similarly, intervening in remote communities that require boats and camels to reach Nigeria’s nomad population will soon be seamless. No doubt, all these measures will largely help to reduce malaria prevalence in the country.