Malaria, a disease caused by a parasite spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes, kills more than 400,000 people yearly, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa.
More than 1,000 residents of Kobi, a suburban community in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, benefitted from a free medical outreach during the week.
The medical outreach, which was organised by Power Forward, a youth development initiative of ExxonMobil, NBA Africa, and an international non-governmental organisation (NGO)- PanAfricare, is in commemoration of the 2023 World Malaria Day (WMD), marked on 25 April.
Medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists and pharmacists, were on hand to provide malaria testing, counselling, sensitisation, treatment, and distribution of Long-Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN), even as they raised awareness about the rampaging disease.
The nets were mainly distributed to pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under five, who are most vulnerable to malaria.
Purpose
Speaking at the programme, the Pan Africare Nigeria Country Director, Patrick Adah, said the sensitisation programme was part of a series of activities planned to celebrate Power Forward's 10th anniversary.
Mr Adah said the project had been running for the past ten years and has impacted many lives positively.
He said the programme also supported the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP).
"This event is planned with Divine Mercy School, one of the schools benefiting from the Power Forward project. The school won the malaria jeopardy, an event where students from 40 schools competed, and the cash award was used for today's event," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the school, Zever Terkaa, the Sports Master, said the N200,000 won from the competition was used for the outreach.
Beneficiaries
One of the beneficiaries, Mary Clement, said she was happy to have benefitted from the initiative.
She said the free medical outreach allowed many people who could not afford to visit the hospital to get still treated.
Another beneficiary, identified as Mama Aisha, said she was grateful to the organisers for testing and treating them and also providing mosquito nets.
She said women in the community were pleased with the initiative and look forward to witnessing more of such.
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Malaria
Malaria, a disease caused by a parasite spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes, kills more than 400,000 people yearly, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa.
Malaria is endemic in Nigeria, with about 53 million cases annually (one in four residents) and 81,640 deaths annually (nine deaths per hour) from the disease.
However, with the approval of a new vaccine- R21/Matrix-M, there is hope of ending the disease.
Power Forward project
The project, according to the organisers, teaches health literacy (Malaria Prevention and Hygiene Promotion) and life skills such as leadership, respect and personal responsibility through basketball and other programmes to positively impact 1,200 Nigerian secondary school students annually in Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory.
