Leadership (Abuja)
Edem Edem
8 September 2008
Nigeria Initiative in the Niger Delta with a view to identifying the gaps and develop a plan of action to fill the gap, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in collaboration with Africare, recently held a Stakeholders consultative Forum for Malaria Control in the Niger Delta in Calabar.
Project Co-ordinator of the Malaria Health Integration Project (HIP), Dr Patrick Adah, said the forum, which involved six states of the Niger Delta comprising Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River , Delta, Edo and Bayelsa States , was also an opportunity to look into the activities of the HIP Project.
Malaria Health Integration Project (HIP) is a partnership between Africare and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
It is a 3-year Malaria Control Project being implemented in the six states.
Actual project implementation commenced in November, 2004 and was to end in October 2007. A no-cost extension was proposed to end in December 2008.
He described the occasion, which was attended by Programme Managers of RBM in the six Niger Delta states, as an opportunity to update their knowledge and share experiences, hoping that at the end, strategies and a set of activities that would help in malaria control in the region would be reached.
Chairman of the occasion, Prof Emmanuel Ezedinachi, charged participants to take the workshop seriously and come up with issues that would move the region forward in the fight against malaria.
Mrs. Chioma Amajoh, Deputy Director, Federal Ministry of Health, represented the RBM National Coordinator, commended SPDC and Africare for initiating the Niger Delta Malaria Control Forum which brings partners together to deliberate on strategies and implementation.
She emphasised the need for other regions to emulate the initiative.
Papers presented at the forum include "Overview of the Implementation of the Malaria Health Integration Project", By Dr Patrick Adah, "Update/Progress on RBM Implementation Status in Nigeria" by Mrs Chioma Amajoh of the National Malaria Control Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, and "Status of RBM in Each State", by each of the states' RBM Programme Managers.
Other participants at the meeting included, Dr Edet Edet, Public Health Adviser of the SPDC, and Prof Martins Merimekwu of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital
Participants expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the workshop, saying it would go a long way in the fight against malaria.
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