World Malaria Day (#WMD) is commemorated every year on 25th April to recognize global efforts to prevent and control Malaria. Globally, 3.3 billion people in 106 countries are at risk of malaria. In 2012, malaria caused an estimated 627,000 deaths, mostly among African children. Asia, Latin America, and to a lesser extent the Middle East and parts of Europe are also affected.
#WorldMalariaDay sprung out of the efforts taking place across the African continent to commemorate Africa Malaria Day. The theme for World Malaria Day 2017 is “End Malaria for Good”. The theme for the commemoration in Nigeria is “A Push for Prevention”.
#Malaria remains both a major cause and a consequence of global poverty and inequity: its burden is greatest in the least developed areas and among the poorest members of society. Many of those most vulnerable – especially young children and pregnant women – are still not able to access the life-saving prevention, diagnosis and treatment they so urgently need.
Malaria symptoms are: headache, general weakness, fever, body ache, dizziness, chills, nausea and vomiting.
You can protect yourself and others from malaria by:
- Sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito nets
- Spraying insecticides indoors or apply repellents
- Getting rid of stagnant water around your environment as they help mosquitoes breed
- Clearing cloth clusters or piled laundry as they present a hiding place
- Going for intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy (IPTp)
Malaria symptoms can take up to one month to manifest as parasites attacks the bloodstream on entry. If you have malaria symptoms, go for diagnostic testing.
The Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) has been in the forefront of the fight to test and treat Malaria in Nigeria as a sub recipient of the Global Fund grant to fight Malaria in Nigeria.
This #WMD2017, #ARFH encourages you to join in the fight against Malaria in Nigeria and beyond by creating awareness about Malaria online and offline and by enlightening others on Malaria prevention strategies, test and treatment. You can also send this mail to your contacts and share the information and graphics on social media using the hash tag #WMD2017, #WorldMalariaDay and #EndMalariaForGood.
