Malaria is transmitted by mosquito, a tiny blood sucking,
desperate and often annoyingly noisy insect particularly around the ears. Malaria is the number one killer of children
in Nigeria and a major cause of weakness and fewer in adults. Malaria is traced
to the cause of poor performance of the general work force and low productivity
in mosquito infested environments.
Efforts by researchers in Nigerian universities and drug
manufacturers have not yielded any appreciable result in the prevention and
treatment of malaria. The national rate of malaria infection is still very
high. Malaria control still remains a challenge in Africa where 45 countries,
including Nigeria, are classified as malaria endemic regions, and about 588
million people are said to be at risk, according to the WHO, World Malaria
Report 2008.
Nigeria is visibly the focus of global efforts aimed at
eradicating this deadly malaria parasite. The recent disbandment by the federal
government of Nigeria of chloroquine, a popular anti-malaria drug commonly used
for the treatment of malaria, and introducing in its place, new sets of drug called
artesunate, artemisinin, artemether and lumefantrin as substitutes. This is a
major research effort by Nigeria universities and scientists to eliminate the
deadly malaria parasite currently ravaging the region.
As research efforts continue to produce new discoveries of
better and more effective malaria drugs, we should not also ignore alternative and
traditional malaria prevention methods. The campaign for the use of mosquito
treated nets has not gaining wide spread acceptance, particularly in the urban
cities because of the claim that it causes heat and heat rashes for children
which is a result of poor power supply. There are not very many homes that use
mosquito treated nets as a result.
Most urban dwellers prefer closing their windows, particularly
at night and keeping their air-conditioning system or electric fans on through
the night to keep mosquitoes away. This is a very effective method of
preventing malaria infection, because the breeze from the air-conditioning
system or electric fan blows away the mosquitoes thereby preventing it from
perching.
This unconventional method is cheap and bio-friendly, but
requires constant supply of electricity for it to be effective. It becomes
expensive if power is provided by an individual through power generating sets.
Therefore, it is imperative for the federal government and research institutes
include power supply to homes as an
integral part of the malaria elimination campaign in both rural dwellings as
well as in the urban areas of the country.
I am therefore calling on the World Health Organization,
Unicef and all other local and international agencies in the forefront of
efforts toward the eradication of malaria in African to increase pressure on
the federal government of Nigeria to hasten efforts towards improving
electricity supply.
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