By: Mukhtar Yahaya Shehu
Kano state government in collaboration with development partners provides 3.545.871 doses of Malaria prevention drugs between July and October last year.
The state commissioner for health Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf stated this at a press briefing in commemoration of the 2025 world Malaria day.
He said, World Malaria Day It is a day set aside by the World Health Assembly to reflect on the effort towards malaria elimination and further raise public awareness about the discase as one of the major public health challenges worldwide.
The commissioner pointed out that the event serves to create awareness on malaria climination efforts across the world.as well as the gains made since the year 2000, as the world Is on track to meet the goals and target of reversing malaria incidences to zero.
“Globally, from the year 2000 to 2023 a total of 2.2 billion malaria cases were recorded and prevented 12.7 million deaths due to malaria which is a historic and significant milestone in the fight against the disease, most of which were in the African Region. It’s worthy to note that a child loses life every two minutes due to malaria worldwide. Also, the report showed that estimated malaria cases in 85 malaria endemic countries were put at 263 million, an increase of l1 million cases compared to the year 2022, most of which were in the African Region (89.7%), and Nigeria contributing 25.9% of these cases,” Dr. Labaran added.
According to the commissioner the Theme for this year is: “Malaria Ends with Us: Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite,” thus emphasizing the need for continued investment, innovation, collaboration, and commitment to accelerate progress towards malaria elimination while The Slogan is “Stay Committed”.
Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf further said In Kano, malaria is reported to be the leading cause of approximately 60% of outpatient visits and consultations.
“In 2024 alone, over 4.1 million hospital visits were attributed to malaria and 3,168,182 individuals were diagnosed with uncomplicated malaria and 3,152,833 (99.5%) were treated with artemisinin-combined treatment drugs (ACTs) with 58 mortalities recorded. Economically, the burden of malaria through illness and death, has resulted in the loss of billions of Naira due to medication costs, missed school and work days, hospital admissions, and other personal expenses,” The commissioner said.
“To address these challenges, Kano State Government, under the able leadership of Governor of Kano Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, placed high priority on saving the lives of women and children through health care system strengthening at all levels of care in the state through procurement and distribution of anti-malarial commodities worth billions of naira yearly in across the 1,565 health facilities through the Last mile delivery to the patients free with the support of partners.
The commissioner adding that distribution of thousands of LLIN bimonthly to pregnant women attending ANC first visits and fully immunized children.
Allocation of 10% from Kano Health Trust Fund (KHETFUND) for malaria elimination are in line with Kano state government effort in preventing malaria especially among the children under five and pregnant women in the state.
“let me use this opportunity to call on our people to seize the golden opportunity of the forthcoming integrated twin campaigns this year (i.e Nets distribution and seasonal Malaria prevention) where 7,755,564 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) will be distributed alongside malaria prevention drugs to over 3,807,676 children below the age of 5 years over a 4-month period of the rainy season (July-October) in Kano state,” Dr. Labaran added.
