Malaria: 7.3m receive mosquito nets in Niger

No fewer than 7.3 million beneficiaries have received the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) across the 25 local government areas of Niger state, an official has said.

Mr Musa Zakari, an official of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), supporting the Technical Workstream for the 2022 ITN campaign in Niger state, announced this during the 2022 state ITN campaign debriefing in Minna on Wednesday.

Recall that Niger state in collaboration with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), Catholic Relief Service and Chemonics, distributed 3.7 million ITN to households to fight malaria in the state.

Zakari disclosed that a total number of 3,762,873 ITN were distributed to 1,469,935 households mobilised using 2,502 device for the campaign across the 25 local government areas of Niger.

He said that the nets were distributed using the 2006 census projected to 2022 of the state, adding that 100 per cent rate of the ITN were distributed.

He added that 9,487 personnel were trained and engaged for the campaign, adding that 68 pieces of ITN were remaining at the state warehouse post campaign.

Zakari, however, listed the challenges encountered during the mobilisation and distribution exercise of ITN to include difficulties in accessing some communities due to peak of raining season.

Other challenges, he said, were micro plan population was more than the ITN requirement for the state and cases of alleged misuse of nets in some local government areas especially in Bida and Mashegu.

Also, Mr John Ocholi, the Campaign Manager for ITN in Niger, appreciated the Niger government for providing an enabling environment for successful 2022 ITN campaign in the state.

He said that the population of the Niger state was more than the number of nets allocated to the state, adding that more households were covered in 2022 than it was in 2019.

Responding, Dr Muhammad Maikusidi, Commissioner for Health and Hospital Management in Niger, commended the partners for providing free nets to residents of the state.

Makusidi, represented by Dr Mohammed Gana, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, said malaria prevalence in the state was still high and appealed to the partners to do more to reduce malaria burden.