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By Linus Ogbu, Lafia
The Nasarawa State Government has flagged- off the treatment of the seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention round three treatment targeting 978,950 children between 3 months-5 years in the state.
The Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Health, Dr. Janet Angbazo disclosed this in a press conference on Friday in Lafia.
According to her, the seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention is a global intervention endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a preventive strategy for the elimination of Malaria, particularly amongst children between the ages of 3months to 59 months.
Angbazo explained that the state in support by the Malaria Consortium had treated 816, 532 children in 2022 and would treat 978,950 in 2023 as a commitment of the current administration under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Sule towards addressing health challenges of it’s citizens.
“You may wish to recall that in the 1st two years of implementation of the SMC (2021, 2022), and in conjunction with other anti-malarial interventions, the burden of Malaria in the state has reduced drastically to 15%.
“The Government and the good people of Nasarawa State appreciate deeply the Malaria Consortium for this tremendous, life-changing support in the last 3-years.
As the name implies it is seasonal, because it happens during the peak malaria transmission period; that is in the rainy season. It also implies the use of drugs to prevent the disease that is why it is called Chemoprevention.
“The drug combination used in the SMC is known to us and has been in use to prevent malaria amongst pregnant women during pregnancy, the Sulfadoxine – Pyrimethamine, popularly known as Fansidar, or Amalar, Maldox; and Amodiaquine. We are conversant with these drugs and they are technically known to be safe, effective as well as well tolerated by children in the respective concentrations used in the formulation,” she said.
She said that implementation of the 2023 campaign for the Chemoprevention treatment, 11,240 adhoc staff were identified across the 13 local government areas of the state and have been trained and equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to enable them deliver the intervention.
“The staff are categoried into those going from house-to-house to deliver the drugs known as the Community Drug Distributors (CDD), the Town Announcers, the Lead Mothers, the Supervisors, and the Health Facility Workers. As usual, the drug will be distributed every month for a period of 5 months, from the month of June to October.
“I would like to emphasise here, that the drug is free, courtesy of the Government of Nasarawa State and support from the Malaria Consortium through the “Give Well” (philanthropic funders),” she noted.
Angbazo therefore called on traditional and religious leaders, as well as mothers, care givers and fathers to cooperate with the adhoc staff to ensure the success of this year 2023 SMC campaign.
She also appealed to the media to disseminate the information to the nooks and cranny of the state to enable the campaign reach the people at the grassroot in order to eliminate Malaria in the state.
On her part, the State Programme, SMC, Mrs. Hafsat Musa Baba, the Malaria Consortium was compliment the effort of the state government in eliminating malaria in the state.
“We are targeting about 34,000,890, worth of drugs for just this round. We have different partners working towards the eradication of malaria in the state and there are other partners that are into the provision of mosquito nets and this is done every three years,” she said.
