The senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Ned Nwoko, has called for a multi-pronged attack against the scourge of malaria.
The senator who is the Chairman, the Prince Ned Nwoko Malaria Eradication Project said the disease poses a significant structural crisis in Nigeria, going beyond a mere public health issue.
He said on Thursday that makaria accounts for about 11 percent of maternal mortality in the country.
Shedding light on his Bill ‘’An Act To Establish the National Agency For Malaria Eradication’’ which had passed its second reading in the senate, he noted that the disease drains economic productivity and impedes national development.
‘’Malaria is a structural crisis that impairs maternal health, drains economic productivity, and impedes national development.
‘’It accounts for approximately 11 percent of maternal mortality in Nigeria, contributing to severe anemia, miscarriages, stillbirths, and infant deaths, tragic outcomes that disproportionately affect our most vulnerable citizens,’’ he said.
He noted that in the World Health Organisation’s 2024 report, Africa recorded approximately 600,000 malaria deaths annually, with Nigeria accounting for more than 184,000 of the deaths, the highest burden globally.
He added that beyond the statistics, this translated to families devastated, futures aborted, and national productivity diminished.
According to him, economically, malaria bleeds the nation through the loss of millions of man-hours each year.
‘’Entire sectors experience drops in efficiency, businesses absorb avoidable health-related costs, and our national output is compromised, simply because we have normalised what should never have been normalised.
‘’This normalisation is the root of the problem. If malaria were endemic to Europe or North America, we will not still be grappling with it a century later.
‘’COVID-19 showed us what is possible when the world mobilises against a health crisis. In mere months, vaccines were developed, global funding was unleashed, and containment protocols deployed.
‘’By contrast, malaria, in spite of centuries of devastation, continues to receive tepid responses and fragmented interventions.
‘’As a private citizen, I have taken bold steps through my foundation to mobilise advocacy, promote research, and initiate high-level consultations.
‘’This includes hosting a strategic WHO meeting in Idumuje Ugboko, my community, to shape a Pan-African strategy. But these efforts, however well-meaning, cannot substitute for structured national action.’’
Nwoko also noted that the current health architecture was insufficient as the National Malaria Elimination Programme, NMEP, was policy-based but underpowered.
‘’The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHCDA, delivers care but lacks scale and support.
‘’The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, though stellar during COVID-19, is peripheral in malaria matters. Even the Presidential End Malaria Council, though well-conceived, lacks legislative anchoring and executive muscle,’’ he added.
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The senator explained that his bill was therefore proposing a centralized, autonomous, and fully resourced National Agency for Malaria Eradication, whose mandate would be clear and aggressive.
According to him the agency, if established, will see to the formulation and championing of national policies for malaria eradication, as well as coordinate inter-agency and sectoral responses with authority.
‘’The agency will also mobilise and manage resources efficiently and transparently and invest in/ support vaccine research, including genetic innovations being explored globally.
‘’Nigeria cannot continue to lead the world in malaria deaths. Our vectors are evolving, our parasites adapting, so must our institutional response.
‘’A fragmented structure cannot confront a mutating threat. We need a unified, science-driven, and legislatively backed institution with the singular mandate to end malaria in Nigeria.
‘’The time has come for this nation to demonstrate the political will, urgency, and resolve that malaria eradication demands”, he insisted.
