Daily Independent (Lagos)
Gbenga Abegunrin
15 October 2008
Ibadan — Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Babalola Owolabi, on Tuesday said over six million cases of malaria are reported in the state annually.
Owolabi disclosed this in Ibadan during a press conference organised by his ministry to mark this year's World Malaria Day.
He added that half of the reported malaria cases is among infants.
The occasion was also used to distribute over 50,000 doses of children and adult formulated Antemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT)and 15,000 doses of Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine (SP)to all the 33 local government areas of the state.
The commissioner said the disease is also rampant among pregnant women, adding that malaria is responsible for one out of every 10 maternal mortality cases recorded in the state.
"Overall, malaria is responsible for 25 per cent of the of the infant mortality as well as 30 per cent of the death recorded in under-5 children.
"Pregnant women are also very susceptible, with the current maternal mortality in Oyo State at 120 per 100,000 live births.
"Malaria related deaths account for one in every 10 deaths associated with pregnancy and delivery," Owolabi said.
He said this has a lot of socio-economic impact on the citizenry and the state with lots of man-power loss in work place, under productivity and impoverisation of the households, especially the low socio-economic class.
The commissioner added that in order to tackle this problem, the state government has made malaria treatment readily available in every state and local government health facilities in all the 33 local government areas of the state.
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