USAID to invest $90m to tackle malaria in eight Nigerian states

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says over the next five years, $90 million will be invested in Nigeria to tackle malaria in eight states.

This was disclosed in a statement by Anne Patterson, USAID mission director in Nigeria, on Wednesday.

The states are Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau, and Zamfara.

The statement noted that over the next five years, “the $90 million President’s Malaria Initiative for States (PMI-S) will serve as the flagship activity for the global U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Nigeria”.

The USAID also said it collaborated with Perpetua Uhomoibhi, coordinator of Nigeria’s malaria elimination programme, in the launch of a new project targeted at controlling malaria in the eight affected states.

“In Nigeria, members of low-income households in rural areas are seven times more likely to contract malaria than urban dwellers,” Patterson said.

“Because these communities also have limited access to prevention and treatment services, it is critically important to reach these populations to reduce malaria.”

The statement also explained that since 2010, the US presidential malaria initiative “has provided $712 million in investments, including the distribution of over 61 million insecticide treated bed nets (ITN), which are now in 43 percent of all households, twice the rate before the intervention”.

“In partnership with state governments, PMI-S will improve the quality of and access to malaria services, promote evidence-based decision-making, boost drug drug-based prevention and treatments, and strengthen health systems and program management,” the statement reads.

“The new activity builds on the success of earlier PMI-supported malaria interventions in Nigeria, which has helped the national rate of malaria infection decrease by 16 percent – even higher for children under five – since PMI began operating in Nigeria.  PMI has also helped increase the likelihood a pregnant woman receives malaria prophylaxis fourfold.”