By Haruna Gimba
The Federal Ministry of Health has unveiled a ‘Made in Nigeria’ insecticide treated mosquito nets as part of efforts to eliminate malaria scourge in the country.
Health Reporters gathered that the locally produced mosquito nets are adjudged to be long lasting insecticides treated nets.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, unveiled the product in Abuja while briefing newsmen as part of the activities to commemorate the 2017 World Malaria Day.
Prof. Isaac Adewole
Prof. Adewole said he was against using Nigerian money to buy nets from another country and challenged indigenous companies to produce the nets in the country.
“I am very happy to declare to this gathering that the challenge was taken up and it has yielded result. I was told that there are three companies; one each in Aba, Lagos and Abuja taking up the challenge,” he said.
The minister said the nets were made in Aba, one of the manufacturing hubs of the country. He said that there was a good market for the product in the country, stressing that Nigeria needs at least 30 million nets annually.
He said Nigeria through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) has achieved remarkable targets in the implementation of its various interventions put in place to curb the menace of malaria disease.
He said that it was noteworthy that the thrust of malaria control in Nigeria was prevention through multiple strategies such as vector control and prevention of malaria in pregnancy.
According to the minister, Nigeria has instituted the policy of testing before treatment with the deployment of the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits nationwide.
The Country Representative of World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Wondi Alemu, said malaria remained one of the public health priorities of WHO in Africa.
Dr Alemu, represented by Dr Rex Mpazanje, said malaria had been responsible for the annual death of over 400,000 people globally.
He said the theme of the 2017 World Malaria Day, which is `End Malaria for Good’, befitted the resolve of the country to accelerate and sustain efforts towards defeating malaria.
