On Friday, 23rd April 2021, the Department of Medicine and Surgery, Nile University of Nigeria hosted a webinar themed “Zero Malaria, Draw the Line”, in anticipation of World Malaria Day.
The webinar commenced with a paper presentation by Mr. Gani Mohammed Idris titled “Bringing Malaria to Zero: A Collective Responsibility”. Mr. Idris commented that despite the significant reduction in malaria mortality rate between the years 2000 and 2015, malaria has remained a health hazard with 229 million reported malaria cases in the world. He expressed that to ensure total elimination of malaria, leaders of the world must ensure zero malaria transmission by preventing mosquito bites, ensure zero malaria infections and ensure zero malaria death.
The second presentation titled “Sustaining Malaria Intervention amid COVID-19” was delivered by Ms. Hauwa Ali Toko. She commented that prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Nigeria had recorded tremendous success in the control of malaria but with the outbreak, attention then shifted to COVID-19. She further stated that while it is necessary that Nigeria adopts strategies to reduce the spread of COVID-19, it is also important that other killer diseases such as malaria are not ignored. In a final statement, she emphasized the need for the Nigerian government to maintain malaria preventive measures and sustain adequate case management services.
Dr. Zara Abba-Aji delivered the third paper titled “Working towards a Mosquito-free Environment”. She commented that a mosquito-free environment is needed to ensure malaria elimination and once elimination is achieved, intervention measures would no longer be needed. In closing, she stated that the only way by which Nigeria can have a mosquito-free environment is by creating a viable environment through the recycling of plastics and other materials, growing of mosquito repellent plants, clearing of bushes, and elimination of the vector.
Ms. Bassey Joy Victor delivered her presentation on “Therapeutic Strategies in Eliminating Malaria”. Ms. Bassey commented that malaria can often be treated with the use of antimalarial drugs and therapeutic drugs like chemoprophylaxis and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) which is recommended for malaria treatment. She further advised that people get the right prescription of these drugs from their doctors before use to prevent relapse or drug resistance.
Lastly, Mr. Ibiang Livinus delivered his presentation on “The Role of Community in Malaria Elimination”. Mr. Ibiang commented that community participation plays an important role in ensuring successful health interventions and malaria control. He concluded that the key areas of community action or intervention include making active referrals to health centers, identifying, and supporting community-based health workers and contributing to resources, etc.
The program ended with a question-and-answer session and a closing remark.
