Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has flagged off the 2024 malaria chemo-prevention programme targeting children between ages 3- 59 months.
Speaking at the occasion the Governor gave an assurance of step up efforts to reduce the incidents of malaria in the state, especial among the under age children, to the barest minimum.
Mutfwang described malaria as third leading cause of death among under-five children, after pneumonia and diarrhea, saying that Nigeria accounts for 3 out of 10 deaths caused by malaria.
The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Cletus Bako Shurkuk, said that many ways of preventing malaria include sleeping inside Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) and Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC).
Mutfwang said it is the topmost priority and the cardinal objective of his administration to safeguard the health and lives of every individual in the state which includes the delivery of life-saving interventions to the people of the State and strengthening the State health system:
He added that to ensure a successful SMC campaign, the state government has approved the use of over 800 health facilities and deployed over 11,000 ad-hoc staff, adding that the state government has equally provided counterpart funding to ensure the smooth running of the campaigns.
He thanked the United Kingdom’s Philanthropist who have supported the State for years and are still working tirelessly with the State Government through their implementing partner, Malaria Consortium.
The governor enjoined traditional land religious leaders across the
State to support the crusade in the fight against malaria, and all other public
health challenges.
Executive Secretary, Plateau State Drugs and Medical Commodities Management Agency, Kim Bot, said that for the first phase of the programmes, the agency has received one million doses, while for the second phase, it has received about 2 million doses.
He said, they have over 4 million doses for over 4 million children in Plateau and they have them according to batches. Adding that necessary logistics arrangement and the distribution plan is ready.
“Distribution commences immediately after this. Flag off to all the over 800 health facilities that have been designated for the takeoff of this programme”, he said.
Plateau State Program Manager Malaria, Ndak Kizeto, promised that the exercise will reach the nook and cranny of the 325 wards in the state.
Director of Malaria Consortium for the West and Central Africa Programme, Dr Maxwell Kolawole, said the mission of the consortium is to save lives and improve health in Africa through evidence-based programmes.
He said that their expertise are in thc fields of malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, dengue fever, malnutrition and they respond to these disease outbreaks through Health Systems Strengthening
Maternal Health Interventions, Policy Development & Advocacy.
According to him, malaria elimination strategies was domesticated in Plateau State since 2021 with funding support
from the philanthropic funding (PF) from the United Kingdom.