Not much done to prevent malaria – NGO

A non- governmental organization, Diverse Health Help Society says “enough is not being done about prevention” of malaria in Nigeria, because the country is overwhelmed with treating the disease.

“Maybe because we are still a little bit weighed down by the disease itself, especially in [children] under five,” said Adanma Odefa, chief executive officer of DHS.

“So we are very forceful and pushy about tests and treatment. But for prevention, I think we can do a whole lot more.”

Odefa spoke at a rally marking World Malaria Day at Garki Market in Abuja, where hundreds of residents turned up to be tested for malaria and be administered free antimalarial drugs and mosquito nets treated with long-lasting insecticide.

DHS, which benefits from Global Fund donations from Abuja’s municipal authorities, also used rapid test kits to encourage residents know their status and seek treatment, sometimes using its mobile clinic which has visited 14 states so far.

“You have to test to know. If you don’t test, you cannot treat. Many times people treat for malaria even when they don’t have malaria. That’s a dangerous thing,” said Odefa.

The disease is still thought to kill an estimated 627,000 people each year, mainly children aged under five in sub-Saharan Africa.

Last year, active transmission of malaria was found in 97 countries.

Odefa said many still tested positive to malaria because “the mosquitoes are still alive.”

“The only way to get rid of malaria, as have been done in the West is that mosquitoes have been killed, right from their eggs. But for us here, as long as we continue to have mosquitoes, there is no way we can run away from malaria.”

The rally, organised in collaboration with Infinity Homes, hopes to drum up more awareness about environmental sanitation as a means of preventing malaria in