The Kwara State government on Friday flagged off the 2024 Seasonal Malaria Chemo-prevention (SMC) campaign in Ilorin, the state’s capital.
Speaking at the event, the Kwara State governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who flagged off the campaign, said that his administration has reduced the burden of severe malaria to six per cent among children in the state.
Represented by the Commissioner for Youths, Sheu Usman, the governor identified malaria as a major public health concern in the country and a significant cause of Under-5 morbidity and mortality with a prevalence of 23 per cent in children below the age of five.
“Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention involves the house-to-house distribution of malaria preventive medicine to children aged 3-59 months in 11 eligible LGA of Kwara state”, he said.
AbdulRazaq charged mothers to receive health volunteers – community distributors (CDD) who will be coming to their houses to give the malaria preventive drug (SPAQ) and supervise the administration of the first dose to eligible children.
“Our mothers are to equally ensure that they complete the Day 2 and Day 3 drug in order to keep their children free from malaria this raining season, while our mothers and fathers should ensure that they and their children continue to sleep under the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) every night”, he said.
Governor AbdulRazaq added that the state implemented the first ever integrated seasonal malaria chemoprevention and insecticide treated net campaign in 2023 to increase access and impact of malaria elimination strategies.
He noted that the innovations have been applauded globally and have been adopted by other states.
