Oyo Moving To Malaria-free State – Commissioner

Oyo State government has said it is moving towards a malaria-free state In the South West region.

The state’s commissioner for health, Dr. Bode Ladipo, disclosed this while receiving 16 electronic microscopes and other laboratory consumables donated by US President’s Malaria Initiative for states (PMIs), saying the state was moving  gradually from a malaria burdensome state to a malaria free state in South western Nigeria.

According to him, there are reductions in the number of cases that have been confirmed to be malaria in recent times.

He said:  “We have started to see a marked reduction in the number of cases that are confirmed to be malaria. More importantly, as Oyo State is transiting from a malaria burdensome state and moving towards being malaria-free, we need to start looking at making appropriate diagnoses.

“Diagnosis of malaria is evidenced by a positive rapid diagnostic test result, but the gold standard is still microscopy. ‘’

He maintained that the microscopes will assist the state to confirm the level of malaria in Oyo state periodically.

On the state’s reference laboratory, he said this would become fully operational within two months to ensure a viable system for diagnosis of new and old infectious diseases across the state.

“We are looking at a situation in which we have a laboratory in Oyo State that will be able to serve for a lot of issues, including infectious diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis as well as any other diseases that are resurfacing within our climes.

The state coordinator for US President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMIs), Dr Oluwayemisi Ayandipo said functional microscopes were important to ensure malaria elimination in the state even as the donated microscopes were to be distributed to health facilities with high cliental burdens to improve malaria diagnosis and care.