The Enugu State government has scaled up free malaria testing and treatment in 527 health facilities within the state.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. George Ugwu, told newsmen in Enugu on Wednesday, that the free malaria testing and treatment are taking place at both public and private health facilities in the state.
He noted that facilities offering the free testing and treatment malaria include, primary healthcare centres, general and cottage hospitals as well as the some selected private and public tertiary hospitals.
According to him, the state government wants to drastically reduce the prevalence and incidences of malaria among residents of the state.
“The ongoing statewide Enugu State Ministry of Health Malaria Elimination Project, which was envisioned and embarked upon by Governor Peter Mbah, is meant to touch lives and strengthen health of residents.
“The state government, with support from its health partners, has made available free malaria test consumables and drugs to many health facilities including public and private hospitals in the state.
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“The residents should avail themselves of this health gesture by visiting health facilities close to them and play their role in helping in eliminating malaria and its health and financial burden out of the state,” he said.
The commissioner advised doctors and health workers to always do a malaria test before treatment as “not all fever is malaria”.
“Carrying out a malaria test in the first place to be sure if what is being treated is malaria is very essential since there exist other forms of fever,” he said.
It would be recalled that the project had been running for over a year and being scaled up the state government in recently.
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The impactful project had reduced the prevalence of malaria in the state to 9.9 per cent according to a recent four-year gap malaria survey data.
