Yusha'u a Ibrahim
29 April 2009
No fewer than 4,500 pregnant women are being killed by malaria related diseases annually in Jigawa State, the state director, Hospital Services, Dr Magaji Muhammad disclosed yesterday.
Presenting a paper at the World Malaria Day, Muhammed stated that the figures constituted about 70 percent of the population of pregnant women in the state, adding that the situation was alarming.
He said more than 40 percent of the global population was affected by malaria related diseases, while 90 percent of the 270 million malaria cases were discovered to be within Africa.
Speaking at the occasion, the Project Manager of the state malaria control booster project, Dr. Kabir Ibrahim said 25 percent of the income of every Nigerian was directly or indirectly going into the treatment of malaria related diseases. Ibrahim "If 80 percent of Nigerians would sleep under bed nets, malaria would have been reduced in the country by 50 percent. Every individual in Nigeria is capable of producing 20 breading sites of mosquitoes".
He lamented that no amount of money would help in addressing the menace of malaria in the country unless people change their attitude towards environment management, noting that environment management was the key to a successful fight against the disease.
He however disclosed that, 1,800 would be selected from Jigawa for training on the fight against malaria, adding that the participants were expected to engage in house-to-house sensitization campaigns against the disease.
Ibrahim added that a substantial amount of money had been set aside by the state government for the project which he said would soon kick-off.
Commissioner of Health, Dr Ibrahim Muhammad Nashabaru said over 350 million people were affected by malaria, out of which he said one million deaths were recorded yearly.
Dr. Nashabaru pointed out that African nations were losing more than $12 billion annually to malaria, saying Nigeria loses N132 billion to malaria every year. He pointed out that in Jigawa, one out of every three deaths in children of less than five years was caused by malaria.
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