6 November 2008
The Kwara State government says it has put in place a mechanism that will drastically reduce the malaria burden within the next three years in the state. Governor Bukola Saraki stated this on Tuesday during the launching of a health campaign tagged "Malaria-free Kwara" held at Bode Saadu, in Moro Local Government.
Represented by the Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Ayinke Saka, the Governor said the state government was determined to improve the quality of life of its people through the implementation of qualitative health programmes.
"The need to collectively combat malaria infestation cannot be over-emphasised so, the synergistic effort of confronting it from all angles will definitely be beneficial to us," he said. He said malaria constituted a great burden on the already depressed economy, adding that it constituted a major economic burden on endemic states in Nigeria, including Kwara. Earlier, the Chairman, Moro local government area, Alhaji Abdulraheem Adisa, said malaria was responsible for the death of over 10 Million children in Africa. The chairman, who said he was not "an alarmist," stated that if nothing was urgently done, the disease would depopulate the world.
"You can now see the devastation of human lives caused by this dreadful disease and the catastrophe awaiting us if nothing serious is done to stop it before it is too late," he said. The Chairman said a number of treated mosquito nets and medicines would be distributed free to people as part of the effort to make the area free of malaria.
(NAN)
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