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By Olakunle Olafioye
Nigeria featured conspicuously as the world marked the 2025 World Malaria Day penultimate Friday.
The World Health Organisation had set aside April 25 of every year to highlight the burden of this disease on the world.
This year, the WHO adopted “Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite” as theme for the year.
In Nigeria, health authorities were as usual disturbed that Nigeria still occupies the unenviable position as world’s malaria most endemic nation.
According to the 2024 World Malaria Report, Nigeria accounts for 27 per cent of global malaria cases while 31 per cent of world’s malaria related deaths occurred in the country in the preceding year.
The report claimed that no less than an estimated 263 million cases and 597,000 malaria deaths occurred worldwide in 2023.
Out of this figure, 194,000 malaria deaths reportedly occurred in Nigeria alone in the year, while Nigeria and Ethiopia are said to account for the global highest malaria death tolls since 2015.
The grim statistics, according to the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, calls for “an aggressive, focused and sustained response”.
The minister who spoke at a roundtable discussion organised to commemorate the 2025 World Malaria Day in Abuja, described malaria as an underestimated disease, noting that it has continued to wreak havoc particularly among under-five children and pregnant women.
An estimated 2.2 billion malaria cases and 12.7 million deaths, according to WHO, have been averted globally over the past two decades. Regrettably, the challenges such as climate change, conflict and economic instability have stalled the global progress in eliminating malaria in the world.
An Assistant Public Health Officer of the organisation, Aisha Abdulkareem called for an urgent need for renewed global commitment to malaria control efforts.
Abdulkareem, while speaking in Lagos at the an event organised to commemorate this year’s World Malaria Day, urged stakeholders to reinvest in proven interventions, rethink current strategies, and reignite both global and local efforts, stressing that ending malaria is not just a health objective, but a critical investment in a safer and more prosperous future.
Health experts are unanimous in their opinion that stronger policies, increased funding, and greater public awareness are critical to reducing the country’s malaria burden and preventing avoidable deaths.
A public health analyst, Dr. Rasheed Abodunde urged governments at all levels to renew their commitments to the National Malaria Strategic Plan.
Abodunde noted that the government had made laudable investments in eliminating malaria in the past through the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP).
He, however, noted that despite these significant efforts, “Nigeria still faces challenges in its fight against malaria, including drug and insecticide resistance, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and socioeconomic factors like poverty.
These challenges are compounded by limited access to preventative measures like insecticide-treated nets, inconsistent programme implementation, and insufficient public awareness and engagement.
“I am of the view that there is a need to intensify the effort to reduce the malaria burden in the country, with more emphasis on promotion of healthy living. Similarly, the government, as a matter of fact, needs to intensify awareness campaigns that will enable the people to engage in preventive measures rather than the curative,” he stated.
The Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, FCT chapter, Salamatu Orakwelu, said that grassroots education is key to eliminating malaria in the country.
She reiterated the need for the spread of preventive messages by the elimination of mosquitoes breeding sites and called for increased production of local drugs to tackle malaria scourge.
“This campaign should be taken to the churches, schools, and mosques,” she said, warning against the abuse of malaria drugs.
“Most times, the first thing that comes to our mind once we have fever is malaria. People should ensure proper testing and avoid abusing anti-malarial drugs,” she advised.
Orakwelu also called on government authorities to invest in research and local production of anti-malarial medications to strengthen the drug supply chain.
Convener #EndMalariaInNigeria#, Francis Nwapa advised the government to shift its attention from foreign aid in the nation’s quest to rid Nigeria of malaria.
Rather, Nwapa advised the government to take the ownership of the fight against the scourge and focus on investing in health infrastructure in the country.
In a statement released in commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day, Nwapa said that foreign aid previously accessed was not effectively utilized in Nigeria, accusing some government officials of mismanaging resources meant to fight malaria scourge in the country.
“We need to stop relying on aid that has not truly helped us reduce malaria deaths. Nigeria must take ownership of the fight and begin to invest in our hospitals, labs, and environmental health systems,” he said.
He argued that the collapse of local initiatives aimed at addressing the major health challenges like the Nigerian Vaccine Production Centre in Yaba, Lagos, which once produced vaccines for diseases like smallpox and yellow fever between 1940 and 1991, but which is lying in ruins as of today, is responsible for the country’s struggle with some diseases.
“That centre could have played a major role in producing malaria vaccines today. But it was abandoned. It shows how we’ve failed to build on our own successes,” Nwapa said.
He posited that past international projects such as the Roll Back Malaria programme, which involved the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, and WHO, did not significantly lower Nigeria’s malaria death rate despite huge financial investments committed on the projects.
Nwapa, therefore, called on the government to declare a public health emergency on malaria and take full responsibility for the protection of the citizens, saying, “until our leaders stop flying abroad for treatments and start fixing our health system here at home, Nigerians will continue to die needlessly from a preventable disease.”
Meanwhile, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has announced the availability of free malaria vaccines in Kebbi and Bayelsa states.
The Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr Muyi Aina made the disclosure in Abuja at a media briefing to mark the 2025 World Malaria Day
The NPHCDA boss who reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing malaria-related deaths, particularly among children under five, who remain the most vulnerable said: “The malaria vaccine is now available and being administered at no cost in Kebbi and Bayelsa states. It is safe, effective, and a vital tool in our expanded efforts to eliminate malaria.
“The R21/Matrix-M vaccine has been incorporated into routine immunisation schedules in both states, targeting children aged five to 59 months. Nigeria’s rollout places it among the first countries in Africa to begin administering the malaria vaccine at scale.”
He stated that over 1.5 million children are expected to benefit in the initial rollout phase, adding that the introduction of the vaccine represents a critical step toward achieving global targets – reducing malaria cases and deaths by at least 90 per cent by 2030.
“This World Malaria Day, we are calling on communities, caregivers and local leaders to join the effort. No child should die from a preventable disease like malaria,” he said.
