Nigeria tops in malaria related deaths globally

Despite the over 16 million US dollars spent recently by the Federal Government in the procurement of mosquito nets for its anti-malaria scheme, the country still records about 30 per cent of the 2.5 million malaria related deaths across the globe.

This was made known by the President, Environmental Health Officers Association, South East Zone, Mr. Eze Emmanuel, yesterday, during a four-day international conference on environmental health.

The theme is “Environmental health practice yesterday, today, and tomorrow.”

He said: “In West Africa sub-region alone, malaria cases were estimated to be over one hundred million in 2016 with 224,000 deaths recorded. According to world malaria report 2017, Nigeria accounts for 27 per cent of the global malaria cases and 30 per cent deaths, making it the highest burden country, yet about 16 million US dollars was said to have been spent recently by the Nigerian government in the procurement of mosquito nets for its anti-malaria scheme.”

Eze, who further revealed that diseases such as diarrhoea, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene accounts for about 18 per cent of deaths among the under-five children globally called on Nigerians to imbibe the practice of personal and environmental hygiene to reduce the alarming rate of deaths.

“I urge all the participants across the five states of the South East zone namely: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states to look back with nostalgia to those good old days when through routine sanitary inspection of premises, Nigerians imbibed the practice of personal and environmental hygiene,” he said.