by Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Center for Media Advocacy for Mother and Child (CAMAC) has taken malaria prevention campaign to Kakuri Market in Kaduna South Local Government Area in Kaduna State, as part of activities to mark the World Malaria Day 2022.
The campaign is part of the NGOs “Malaria Eradication Campaign 2022” with the theme: ‘Eliminating Malaria through Community Engagement,’ according to the Executive Director, Mr. Alex Uangbaoje.
The World Malaria Day is celebrated every 25th of April to bring greater awareness to the global fight and recognise the existence of malaria across the globe.
This year’s theme is: “Harness Innovation to Reduce the Malaria Disease Burden and Save Lives.”
The project is being supported by Newsweb Express, an online news platform in collaboration with Civil Society for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME), which is a global network uniting civil society organizations and communities to achieve malaria elimination.
Executive Director of CAMAC, Alex Uangbaoje, said everyone must get involved to reduce the burden of malaria by preventing it from happening.
He emphasized on the need for every household to use Insecticide Treated Mosquito Net, clean and disinfect their environment and, in any case they feel symptoms of malaria, they should not self-medicate but seek an expert’s recommendations and also ensure they take a lot of rest to help their system.
According to him, people are more prone to malaria in the raining seasons and, as such, “this is time when communities should join hands with government and other stakeholders working to ensure malaria is completely dealt with.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the number of malaria deaths stood at 627,000 in 2020.
According to the report, there was an estimate of 241 million malaria cases and 627,000 malaria deaths mostly of children under five.
The 2020 figure represents about 14 million more cases in 2020, compared to 2019, and 69,000 more deaths. In that report, Nigeria was also among six countries that accounted for 55 percent of all cases worldwide.
Mr Uangbaoje said it was the alarming report that propelled the NGO to come up with a campaign that will enable her reach people in public places like the markets, worship centres, their homes and work places with messages on malaria prevention.
