By Ado Hassan, Sokoto
Antimalarial items worth N3 billion under a tripartite agreement with Federal and Sokoto State Governments, as well as Development Partners had been procured to effectively fight the menace in the state, Sokoto state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Balarabe Shehu Kakale has said.
Kakale made the disclosure at a briefing in Sokoto on Tuesday, explaining that other partners include USAID, Presidential Malaria Initiative and the Federal Ministry of Health.
The Commissioner also said that the state government contributed about N300 million
counterpart funding out of the money, while the rest of the partners, including the federal government contributed the balance of N 2.7 billion.
” The items included three million long lasting, insecticide treated nets, insecticides and larviciding and sprayers, among others.
” The ongoing fight against malaria has three components, the first of which is the purchase of seasonal chemotherapy drugs, for the free treatment of patients.
” The second one is the residual fumigation and purchase of sprayers, insecticides and larviciding, among others.
” The third component is ensuring that people sleep under long lasting, insecticide treated nets, as well as rapid testing.”
Kakale also explained that the package entailed the training of health personnel, operational costs and other logistics to comprehensively achieve the desired goal of reversing the trend under the roll back malaria plan.
Accordingly, the Commissioner said the state government has effectively strategised and working round the clock to achieve the control of malaria by 2020.
” The global target for the elimination of the disease is 2030, while the state is targeting the elimination of the disease by 2025.
He however stressed the need for the people of the state to key into the monthly environmental sanitation exercise to ensure sustainable personal and environmental hygiene, otherwise all efforts will amount to naught.
