Nigeria Launches Its First-Ever National Campaign to Cover Every Household with Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets
Keeping Africa’s children healthy is an investment in Africa’s future. Mass campaigns get information and millions of insecticidal nets to millions of families quickly.
KANO, May 8, 2009 - Nigeria’s National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and Kano State Government today launched an historic national campaign to reduce by half the number of malaria deaths in the country over the next few years. The new bed net distribution program is the first to aim at universal coverage by 2010—a target called for one year ago by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Nigeria’s President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has committed his country to meeting that goal and ending deaths from malaria in Nigeria. If successful, this campaign will have significant impact on Africa’s overall malaria burden.
The campaign in Kano is the first wave of a national campaign. The NMCP and State Commissions are working with local and international partners to mount campaigns in each of Nigeria’s 36 states over the next two years. The goal is for every household to have at least two bed nets—and use them correctly.
“By the end of 2010, over 60 million treated bed nets will blanket the country,” announced Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Babatunde Osotimehin, at a recent malaria summit in Washington, DC. Prior to Nigeria’s adopting the goal of universal coverage, campaigns targeting young children and pregnant women were carried out successfully in several states.
With Africa’s largest population (estimated at 150 million), Nigeria bears a greater malaria burden than any other country in the world. The global community recognizes that ending malaria’s hold on Nigeria is crucial for the rest of the continent.
Though preventable and treatable, malaria kills nearly one million people every year. Three hundred thousand of these people are Nigerians. Malaria also makes millions of Nigerians sick. This single disease accounts for about 60% of outpatient visits and 30% of hospitalizations, 25% of deaths in children under one year old, and 11% of maternal deaths —a heavy burden on Nigeria’s families, communities, health system, and workforce.
According to Nigeria’s NMCP, “The financial loss due to malaria annually is estimated to be about 132 billion Naira [USD 906 million] in form of treatment costs, prevention, loss of man-hours, etc.” This chips away at Nigeria’s prospects for development.
World Bank Africa Region Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili emphasized that “We need to keep our children healthy so they can learn in school and become highly productive members of society. We need to keep our adults healthy so they can work, provide for their families, and contribute to Africa’s growth.”
Campaigns will enable Nigeria to achieve high coverage, and routine delivery channels such as antenatal clinics, under-five clinics, and the commercial sector will help them to sustain it.
With the 2010 targets swiftly approaching, the global effort has intensified to help countries rapidly scale up key malaria control interventions to reach these targets. Sleeping under bednets treated with insecticide every night is one important part of the solution. The Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership recommends a comprehensive strategy that includes improving diagnosis, getting highly effective antimalarial drugs quickly to all who need them, spraying interior walls of houses with long-lasting insecticide so mosquitoes die when they land there to rest, and giving pregnant women two doses of an antimalarial to prevent them from getting malaria. Nigeria’s program has begun implementing this recommendation.
RBM Executive Secretary Awa Coll-Seck congratulated Nigeria on taking this major step toward universal coverage: “We know that Africa can only achieve its malaria goals if countries like Nigeria and DRC achieve theirs. Protecting everyone with ITNs is a critical part of the comprehensive solution spelled out by partners in the Global Malaria Action Plan.”
The Kano campaign alone will use over a thousand distribution points. “Managing the logistics of such a wide-reaching campaign in just one state exemplifies the challenges Nigeria will face in reaching universal coverage,” noted NMCP Coordinator Dr. Yemi Sofola. “Meeting such challenges requires close cooperation amongst a large variety of partners.”
The Kano State Campaign Coordination Committee, led by the State Ministry of Health, has a broad-based membership including other national and state government agencies, local government representatives, media organizations, WHO, NGOs such as the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, and the private sector.
Nigeria’s funding and technical assistance partners in the Kano campaign include DFID, the World Bank, the United States Government, through USAID, and UNICEF. The Global Fund and many other agencies will join the national campaign. This comprehensive nationwide effort represents an unprecedented attack on one of Nigeria’s biggest health problems. With national expansion of key interventions, Nigeria should see substantial reductions in malaria illness and deaths. Due to its large population, the total number of lives saved may dwarf the successes of other countries.
Discussing the ambitious new campaign, Onno Ruhl, Nigeria Country Director, remarked that “The World Bank is pleased to be able to assist Nigeria in this massive effort. Our support for malaria elimination here demonstrates our strong commitment to the health and well being of all Nigerians. We applaud Nigeria’s commitment as demonstrated by its actions in Kano today and the $460 million long-term investment it is making with World Bank IDA loans.”
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