Malaria: Under-5 deaths have decreased by 63% in Anambra, says commissioner

The Anambra state government says the under-five death rate due to malaria reduced by 63 percent from February 2022 to February 2023.

Speaking on Thursday at a news conference to mark World Malaria Day, Afam Obidike, the commissioner for health, said in the last year, Anambra has done extremely well in the fight against malaria.

He said the improvement is because the administration of Chukwuma Soludo, the governor, invested and put some interventions in place.

“In June 2022, the state government collaborated with the Malaria Consortium to distribute 3.8 million mosquito nets to households and embarked on desilting of drains across the state. These interventions yielded positive results,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“According to data, the under-five death rate due to malaria has reduced from 77.8 percent to 14.3 percent and the cases of malaria fever presented at the hospitals reduced by 30 per cent in one year.

“Mosquito nets use increased from 27 per cent to 57 percent. The national benchmark for net use is 37 per cent.

“So, this shows that Anambra has gone ahead in the national benchmark. We need to sustain the momentum.”

The commissioner advised residents to visit hospitals for proper diagnosis before treating malaria, adding that the state government had subsidised the cost of treatment, especially for children.

“It is unfortunate to note that when people feel they have fever, they buy and take anti-malaria drugs without proper test and prescription. Drugs are chemical substances, and it has effects on the body,” he said.

“People should not consume anti-malaria drugs anyhow, it is dangerous.

“Fever can be a symptom of viral infection, tonsillitis or sepsis. So, we encourage people to go for a test before they start treatment of malaria.”