Ecowas Commission Flags Off Regional Campaign to Eliminate Malaria

15 March 2011
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Economic Community of West African States (Abuja)
press release

Porrt Harcourt - Nigeria — ECOWAS Commission has flagged off its campaign for the elimination of malaria in the region by 2015 by strengthening the vector control component of the fight against malaria in the region through the use of Cuban technology on bio- larvicides with the launching of the programme in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State in South-South, Nigeria.

Bio-larvicides are environmental- friendly ubstances that are applied to mosquito reservoirs and kill the larvae while the adults are eliminated through residual spraying of homes. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency James Victor Gbeho said the strategy of vector control using this technology was 'adopted to tackle the menace of malaria and guarantee total annihilation of the disease in the subcontinent' in the spirit of the agreement by ECOWAS Member States to eliminate malaria by 2015.

In the message to the ceremony, the President said that the battle against malaria has been multifaceted and that the 'current strategy is being adopted because of the evidence of its success in other parts of the world where malaria as since ceased to exist.' The President said that the launching of the programme in Rivers State in Nigeria's Niger Delta 'where the terrain is swampy and a natural habitat for the breeding of the mosquito vector' is instructive as it shares the same characteristics with the entire West African coast since the terrain is the same. The programme also involves the establishment of factories in collaboration with Venzuela for the local production of bio-larvicides in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Rivers State, Nigeria to be used in the regional campaign for the elimination of malaria.

The Rivers Deputy Governor who flagged off the campaign, Mr Tele Ikuru described the occasion as historic in the annals of health care delivery in the state and West Africa, saying that by hosting the pilot project, the state has defied skeptics, who believe 'that it is our destiny to continue to control malaria rather than eliminate it. The ceremony was attended by the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Elio Savon Oliva.

Read the original article on Ecowas.

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