Over ₦7 billion has been injected into the 2026 Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) campaign in Nasarawa State as the state government and the United States Government move to protect about 3.6 million persons from malaria, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Gaza Gwamna, has said.
Dr. Gwamna disclosed this at a media parley in Lafia, where he was joined by the Director of Public Health, Dr. Peter Attah, and the Campaign Manager for GHSC-PSM, Patience Ochibe.
According to him, the US Government spent over ₦6 billion on the procurement of 1.8 million nets alone, excluding freight and shipping, while over ₦1 billion is the operational budget for the campaign.
He explained that the state, initially expected to provide 10 per cent counterpart funding, released a substantial amount after negotiations.
Dr. Gwamna said the 1.8 million nets will be distributed across the 13 Local Government Areas to fight malaria, which, according to him, accounts for six to seven of every 10 hospital visits in the state. He added that under-five children and pregnant women are the hardest hit.
He said proper use of ITNs can cut the malaria burden by half. He noted that prevalence has dropped from about 20 per cent to 11 per cent, with a target of five per cent in five years.
On the malaria vaccine, he said it remains in pilot phase in some states and will be supplied through the federal system in due course.
He said the exercise will begin with house-to-house mobilisation and registration from 15th to 21st November, during which households will be mapped and registered. He urged residents to grant the teams access, saying the data collected will guide distribution.
He said allocation will be one net to two persons, as determined by the Icolongo application to be used during registration. He added that a man with two wives will be treated as two separate households to ensure adequate coverage.
He assured that hard-to-reach areas will not be left out, saying anywhere vaccines have reached, the nets will also reach through the Primary Healthcare platform.
He warned against selling the nets or using them for fishing, stressing that they are meant only for sleeping under. The treating chemicals, he said, could poison fish and humans if misused. He added that community leaders have been engaged for six months to ensure proper use, while security agencies will apprehend anyone caught selling the nets.
Dr. Attah said state-level training for personnel who will drive the campaign has been completed, while LGA teams comprising Malaria Programme Managers, Directors of Primary Healthcare and Social Mobilisation Officers have also been trained.
He noted that a Local Government Coordinator has been appointed for each LGA, while two supervisors — one from the state and one from the LGA — will man each of the 147 wards, bringing the total to 294 ward supervisors.
He said due to population explosion, particularly in Karu and Lafia, a cap has been placed on the number of nets per compound in urban areas.
“In Lafia and Karu, the maximum you can give in a compound is two households. When you go to the rural setting, you could go up to three,” he said.
Based on micro-planning, he said Karu will receive the highest allocation of over 300,000 nets, followed by Lafia with over 250,000 nets, while Wamba, with the least population, will receive about 70,000 nets.
Mrs. Ochibe said Nasarawa’s last campaign was in 2022, four years ago. She said the campaign will deploy ICT4D, with mobilizers using POS machines to register households and issue slips for redemption from December 6 to 12.
She added that households will be encouraged to return old, torn end-of-life nets for recycling, while over 9,000 personnel will be engaged for the exercise.
According to her, macro logistics — movement of nets from the state store to LGAs — has commenced and will end by November 17 or 19, while micro logistics to distribution points will run from November 29 to December 2.
She said the state flag-off is scheduled for December 5, while LGA flag-off and distribution will commence on December 6.
Mrs. Ochibe disclosed that 1,961,067 nets were redeemed in 2022 and 1,609,258 in 2018.
She noted that the operational budget for both campaigns was ₦709 million, excluding net cost, while the 2026 operational budget alone stands at over ₦1 billion due to inflation.
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