To commemorate the World Malaria Day, on 25th April, 2016, the Federal Ministry of Health and health sector stakeholders (malaria) participated in a road walk from the Federal Secretariat Complex to NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja, where a Ministerial Press Briefing was held.
The World Malaria Day is commemorated every year all around the world to sensitize the public about malaria, assess efforts of governments and mobilize to defeat the disease. The theme for the 2016 event is ‘End Malaria for Good’, and the accompanying slogan in Nigeria is ‘Yes! It is Achievable’.
Present at the event was the Minister for Health, represented by Dr Wapada Balami, representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other health stakeholders and partners.
The health minister said that: “the Federal Government through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) has achieved remarkable targets in its various interventions, having trained numerous healthcare providers, distributed over 30 million doses of Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) drugs and delivered over 28 million units of Rapid Diagnosis Test (RDT) kits to states.
Dr Rui Vaz, WHO representative in Nigeria stated that: “A malaria-free Nigeria is possible through a stronger inter-sectoral coordination and implementation of well-known cost-effective interventions supported by a strong accountability framework; strengthened primary health care system to facilitate access to basic health services to the population, particularly the underserved population and timely allocation of adequate resources”.
Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH), as one of the partners, supported a two-day countdown event, conducting environmental sanitation, sensitization, test and treatment of malaria in Mpape Community, Abuja.
World Malaria Day!
April 25, 2024
