UK donates €1bn to global fund for fight against malaria in Nigeria

The United Kingdom (UK) has contributed £1 billion to the global fund against malaria and other diseases in Nigeria from 2024 to 2026.

Ebere Anyachukwu, the health adviser at the British High Commission, announced the donation in an interview with NAN on Thursday, commemorating World Malaria Day.

Anyachukwu said the donation is in addition to the funds from other donors to tackle malaria and other diseases in Nigeria.

He said the money would be for procurement of insecticide, treated bed nets, diagnostics testing for malaria and chemoprevention.

“There are some states in Nigeria where malaria is seasonal. Those are states where chemoprevention is used to prevent children from coming down with malaria,“ he said.

“In those states, malaria spreads in a few months within a year, and during that period, there is a high level of malaria transmission in children, resulting in lots of deaths.”

The health adviser said children in such states are usually given malaria drugs, whether or not they have the infection.

“These are part of measures by the global fund that have significantly reduced the level of sicknesses and deaths in children,” he said.

He said the UK is a big contributor to the global fund, currently supporting about 13 states in Nigeria.

He listed the states to include Adamawa, Delta, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Yobe and Taraba.

“With the global funding support, there has been a significant reduction of malaria-related deaths in children in Nigeria,“ Anyachukwu said.

“In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that Nigeria had about 221, 000 malaria-related deaths. But by 2022, the figure was about 189 deaths.

“There is a significant reduction due to the intervention of the global fund, even when there was an increase in the nation’s population.

“Lots of lives have been saved over the years because people now have access to health care facilities funded by these interventions.”