FIGHT AGAINST MALARIA: GROUP LAMENTS THE PREVALENCE RATE IN NIGERIA

A Global Health Project known as Transforming Intermittent Preventive Treatment for Optimal Pregnancy (TIPTOP) says about 61% of pregnant women in Nigeria are missing out in the uptake of sulfadiazine pyrimethamine combination for the prevention of malaria.

The Project Director in Nigeria, Dr. Bright Orji, stated this when a team of health development partners from the United States and the Federal Ministry of Health visited Governor David Umahi at Government House Abakaliki.

TIPTOP is a 5 year pilot project aimed at increasing the number of pregnant women receiving anti-malaria preventive therapy in 4 countries with high prevalent rate of the disease.

The countries are Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Mozambique.

In Nigeria, the project is taking place in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State as well as in Ondo and Niger States.

Dr. Orji explained that 11% of pregnant women died annually in Nigeria as a result of malaria infection, pointing out that the aims of taking sulfadiazine pyrimethamine combination to communities were to increase its uptake and reduce the mortality rate.

The Head, Case Management Branch of National Malaria Elimination Programme Abuja, Dr. Nnenna Ogbulafor, noted that Nigeria had malaria prevalence rate of 27% and contributed 87% to world prevalence rate of the disease.

Governor Umahi, represented by his deputy, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, described the on-going TIPTOP project in Ohaukwu Local Government Area as a huge success and urged the Team to expand its intervention to other Council areas to determine the effectiveness of the community based approach.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Daniel Umezuruike told journalists that some women had been trained in Ohaukwu Local Government Area to administer the drugs to pregnant mothers while the World Health Organisation (WHO) would use the outcome to formulate a new policy.

AMECHI ODO