Abuja — Malaria has remained Nigeria's largest health burden. Experts say that the disease caused by the injection of a germ called plasmodium into the human body through infected female anopheles mosquito is the major cause of Nigeria's high infant and maternal mortality rates.

Malaria currently accounts for the death of 300,000 children annually. Also in Nigeria there are 130 million clinically diagnosed cases of malaria each year with 30 percent hospital admissions, 60 percent outpatients ascribed to the disease.

There is hardly an adult in Nigeria who has not suffered from malaria at some point in his or her life. In fact some individuals are struck with malaria twice or thrice in year. Anthony Oghenefejiro an Abuja based businessman in his 30s battled malaria thrice in 2009 and this year he has suffered from the disease once. Up until 2009, Oghenefejiro used choloroquine to treat himself. But by 2009 he started using Maloxine anti-malaria capsules.

Self medication is the rule of the game in Nigeria and Oghenefejiro confessed to Daily Independent that he had not visited the hospital to treat malaria since his childhood. "Throughout my years at the University, I used paracetamol to fight the symptoms of malaria so that I can attend lectures. But once it's Friday, I buy choloroquine tablets combined it with piriton tablets, because I react to choloroquine. I use the drugs and by Monday I am free of sickness," he said. Samson Paul, a media executive, has the same experience with the first respondent. A walk to the nearest pharmacy for a pack of choloroquine is all he needs to rid his body of malaria. Paul, in his 20s, lives in the Nyanya area of Abuja. He has never heard of the Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT). The ACT was introduced by the Federal Government to combat the spread of drug resistance malaria caused by the age long use of mono-therapies.

However, the data made available by the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) of the Federal Ministry of Health shows that women and children Under-5 are most affected by the malaria scourge. It is estimated that seven out of ten pregnant women suffer from malaria each year. Eleven percent of these women die from malaria while those who survive suffer complications including abortions, stillbirths and pre-term delivery. Among children malaria is the second highest cause of death especially for children bellow the age of five. Neonatal causes account for 26 percent of deaths, while malaria is responsible for 24 percent of Under-5 deaths. There is no gainsaying when experts aver that women and children are most vulnerable to the killer disease.

It is therefore a welcome development that the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy at the community level has been vigorously promoted by the federal ministry of Health through the NMCP as a means to increase access to effective anti-malarial medicines by high risk groups living in rural areas. This strategy has been shown to be feasible and acceptable to the community. It was also disclosed at a recent workshop organized for Health correspondents in Abuja by the National Malaria Control Programme that community medicine distributors have been trained (CMDs) on the dispensation of ACT within the context of home management of malaria (HMM). Another issue resource persons at the workshop harped on was the need to teach caregivers various methods through which they can prevent family members from contracting malaria. One such method is by simply keeping the home clean and free off stagnated water. Of immense importance is the use of residual spray and ensuring that mother and children sleep under long lasting insecticide treated nets.

Many Nigerians take the malaria scourge for granted, majority of them finding hard to believe that an estimated N132billion is lost to the disease annually. The socio-economic implications of the malaria pandemic in Nigeria are indeed grave. Permanent Secretary, the Federal Ministry of Health Linus Awute recently warned that the effective control of malaria is integral to Nigeria attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Awute spoke while declaring open the 7th annual Roll Back Malaria review meeting held in Abuja.

"Malaria has caused a strain on socio-economic growth, monies meant for development is lost in man hours caused by absenteeism and treatment of malaria. This is why the Federal Government has introduced a five-year strategic development plan to eradicate malaria. The Federal Government is stretching its intervention to achieve universal coverage for nets distribution, improve behavioural change communication, scale up capacity for treatment and diagnostics," he said.

National Coordinator of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Folake Ademola-Majekodunmi while disclosing that 90 percent of Nigerians are at risk of contacting malaria each year, said it has become imperative for the Federal Government to eradicate the disease with an integrated approach which includes the distribution of 63 million insecticide treated nets on or before December 2010.

Ademola-Majekodunmi who also spoke during the seventh Annual Roll Back Malaria added that the NMCP is embarking on a multi-sectoral advocacy as well as a well marshaled vector control programme. She disclosed that over 37,000 homes have been fumigated in seven states. She stressed the need for states and Local Government Area councils to key into the national malaria control programme because issues such as water and sanitation if not handled properly can be detrimental to the progress made in fighting the disease.

The need for Nigerians at all levels to join in the fight to eradicate malaria cannot be over-emphasised. Ademola-Majekodunmi pointed out that the Federal Government is reaching the grassroots through its collaboration with faith-based organisations under the umbrella of Nigerian Interfaith Action Association (NIFAA). "Religious leaders especially under the purview of NIFAA have been sensitized, mobilized and trained as state focal persons to take the message of home based malaria management to millions of Nigerians," she said.

The NMCP National Coordinator promised that the Federal Ministry of Health will deliver on its target of two insect treated nets per house and it is poised to bridge existing gaps in the distribution of nets, the management of malaria commodities and the operation costs for mobilsation and sensitisation. Stakeholders in health sector are in agreement that the move to end the malaria scourge has never been this well orchestrated. In fact, Chairman House of Representatives committee on AIDS, TB, Malaria and Leprosy Control, Dr. Oluwole Olakunle, acknowledged this much when he said the NMCP will be allocated a "substantial amount" in the 2010 budget to succeed.