527,305 Borno Residents Suffered Malaria In 2023 — Commissioner

Borno State Commissioner of Health and Human Resources, Prof Baba Gana has revealed that 527,305 persons were confirmed to have been infected with malaria in 2023 across the state.

He also disclosed that 15,036 of the figure were severe malaria cases.

Gana also put the figure of the infection for the proceeding year in 2022 at 600,141 with 13,492 as severe cases, while 714,904 persons were infected in 2021 among which 20,774 cases were classified to be severe.

Referencing the District Health Information Software (DHIS-2) routine data, the commissioner noted that the figures showed a annual decrease in cases of malaria between 2021and 2023 in Borno State.

The commissioner made the revelation on Friday during the commemoration of the 2024 World Malaria Day organised by the state government, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners in Maiduguri.

He said the Federal Government, through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and Borno State Government through the Ministry of Health in collaboration with partners have made tremendous impact and achieved remarkable targets in the implementation of various interventions.

“I am pleased to inform you that, the state malaria elimination programme has yielded better results as recently seen in the National Malaria Indicator Survey (NMIS) -2021 findings. Net ownership by household was 70.4%, net use by household was 36.7%, use by children under 5-years of age was 55.8%, net use by pregnant women was 56.6%, pregnant women who received Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPTp) at least once was 78.7%, prevalence of malaria in children under 5 by RDT was 18.6%.

“The state has had 7 rounds of uninterrupted Seasonal Malaria Chemo-prevention (SMC) intervention between 2017 and 2023 through the support of Nigeria Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), World Health Organization (WHO) and Malaria Consortium (MC) where over 2,000,000 children aged 3month to 5 years of age were reached every year.

“We have wittnessed an uninterrupted supply of antimalarial commodities, especially the supply of Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, Artemesinin Based Combinaition Theraphy (ACTs) and Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) free-of-Charge to pregnant women and children under 5 and to newly resettled communities across the the state over the years,” the Commissioner said.

He added that the State Government has finalised the engagement of a Non-Govermental Organization (NGO) to provide comprehensive malaria services at no cost across the state on behalf of the State Government.

“Let me use this opportunity to commend the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partners in the state. In particular, I must acknowledge the immense contribution of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, MSF, INTERSOS, Mentor Initiative, Malaria Consortium (MC) and other Implementing Partners; through your robust support, lives have been saved,” Prof. Gana said.

The state Coordinator of WHO, Dr. Salisu Ibrahim lauded the Borno State Government for giving priority to health care needs of the citizens, assuring that WHO and other partners will continue to support the state in tackling malaria and other infectious diseases.