The world recorded 249 million cases of malaria in 2022 as against 244 million cases in 2021. This was contained in the new World Malaria Report by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the same year about 608,000 deaths were recorded compared to 610,000 the previous year. According to the report, Africa had a disproportionate high share of the global malaria burden with Nigeria and a few African countries in the lead. The region had about 94 per cent of all malaria cases and 95 per cent of deaths in 2022. Four African countries with high burden of malaria are Nigeria, (26.8%) the Democratic Republic of Congo, (12.3%) Uganda, (5.1%) and Mozambique, (4.2%).
The report has clearly shown that malaria is on the increase in Nigeria. It is indeed sad that Nigeria still has a high malaria burden despite various efforts to ameliorate the scourge. Since 2011, there has been an integrated effort by the government to support malaria control efforts. Some of the programmes and interventions include the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2015 commissioned a project to evaluate and document the progress of malaria control interventions and assess changes in outcomes from 2008 to 2016 in four states, Cross River, Ebonyi, Nasarawa and Sokoto.
The findings were positive. Apart from availability of malaria commodities, trained health workers and quality care, there was better data quality in primary health care facilities. Nigeria has also implemented data- informed strategies on interventions. Nigeria has been involved in the global campaign to eliminate malaria. It established the Nigeria End Malaria Council (NEMC) in 2022 to hasten the eradication of the disease.
Despite these interventions, malaria tops the nation’s disease burden. It is incontestable that malaria is one of the leading causes of death in Nigeria. In the 2020 World Malaria Report, malaria accounted for 27 per cent of global malaria cases and 23 per cent of deaths, 30 per cent of admissions to hospitals. It was a major cause of absenteeism from work and school in 2020.
Considering the rising burden of the disease, we urge the government and collaborative agencies not to relent in the war against malaria. More needs to be done to eliminate malaria in Nigeria and other malaria-endemic countries in Africa. Intervention programmes such as the National Malaria Control Programme(NMCP), the National Malaria Elimination Programme(NMEP), the National Malaria Strategic Plan(NMSP) and the Nigeria End Malaria Council (NEMC) should remain on course. More awareness campaign about the disease as well as preventive measures should be stepped up.
In many parts of the country, especially the rural areas, awareness about the transmission and prevention methods is very low or absent. Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs) should be made more accessible to the people. There should also be intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnant women. This is because women are usually high-risk carriers of the disease. Indoor Residual Spraying (IRP) should be encouraged and adopted as a routine in homes and work places.
More attention should also be paid to the control of malaria vectors. And to stem the tide of transmission, anti-malarials ought to be made more readily available to the populace. The government can also subsidize the cost of malaria treatment for women and children. The cost of treatment for indigent Nigerians should be free. The activities of the National End Malaria Council should be reinvigorated. Elimination of malaria in Nigeria is a possibility provided that the aims and objectives of the council are effectively executed. The body should ensure that the current national malaria strategy plan (2021- 2025) is fully implemented.
We urge government to robustly fund the NEMC. Furthermore, the council should deploy drone technology to kill mosquito breeding sites and bushes in endemic areas as Kenya has done. The integration of technology to fight malaria is both innovative and success-driven.
Let it be emphasized that the NEMC needs sufficient resources to plan and carry out its programmes successfully. Without adequate funding of the end malaria agencies, the goals would hardly be achieved. Nigeria must do everything within its powers to ensure that malaria is eradicated in the country by 2030. Nigeria has enough human and material resources to achieve the goal.