Last week, the World Health Organisation released its 2020 Malaria Report. According to the global health body, each year, more than 400,000 people die of malaria – a preventable and treatable disease.
Painfully, an estimated two-thirds of these deaths occur among children under the age of five. These are stars whose journey and performance on the world stage have been miserably and sadly cut short by no fault of theirs.
The global health body indicated in the report that 29 of the 85 countries that were malaria-endemic accounted for about 96 per cent of malaria cases and malaria-related deaths globally while Nigeria accounted for 27 per cent of the deaths.
The report reads, “About 96 per cent of malaria deaths globally were in 29 countries. Six countries – Nigeria (27 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12 per cent), Uganda (5 per cent), Mozambique (4 per cent), Angola (3 per cent), and Burkina Faso (3 per cent) – accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2020.
It also added that Sub-Saharan Africa had the heaviest malaria burden, accounting for about 95 per cent of all malaria cases and 96 per cent of all deaths in 2020. About 80 per cent of deaths in the region are among children under five years of age.
The WHO, in the statement, said the situation could have been far worse, adding that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had projected that – with severe service disruptions – malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially double in 2020.
But it noted that many countries took urgent steps to shore up their malaria programmes.
Director-General, WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said, “Thanks to the hard work of public health agencies in malaria-affected countries, the worst projections of COVID’s impact have not come to pass.
“Now, we need to harness that same energy and commitment to reverse the setbacks caused by the pandemic and step up the pace of progress against this disease.”
“If the truth must be told, the WHO report on malaria as it affects Nigeria represents a grim and sad picture of policy failure in the country
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If the truth must be told, the WHO report on malaria as it affects Nigeria represents a grim and sad picture of policy failure in the country.
Whereas there was a well-thought-out policy plan aimed at reducing and completely eradicating malaria infection and malaria-related deaths by the year 2020, it would seem that the implementation of the policy failed woefully. The questions that come to mind are: what happened to the National Malaria Strategic Plan 2014-2020? Why did Nigeria still record such outrageous fatality figures? Was the NMSP implemented haphazardly or dumped somewhere to gather dust?
It is our candid opinion that if it had been conscientiously implemented, the figures would be more favourable and less indicting. How come Nigeria still leads the pack of countries ravaged by the scourge of malaria with such fatality figures?
The then Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, writing in the National Malaria Strategic Plan in 2014, stated, “Malaria control interventions in Nigeria have evolved over the years with a lot of laudable strides made in the implementation of malaria control activities in Nigeria…
“The National Malaria Strategic Plan (2014 – 2020) will ensure a transition from malaria control to malaria elimination…”
With that background, one would have thought that seven years down the road, nobody would be bombarded with heart-rending figures of deaths caused by malaria infection.
But sadly, it would seem that from the WHO report, that policy pronouncement was all mere talk and no action in the last seven years. The National Malaria Strategic Plan was designed to drastically reduce ailments arising from malaria infection and checkmating malaria-related deaths, especially, among children.
We hold that the policy failed, and woefully so. And this shouldn’t be. Nigeria cannot continue to be very good at formulating policies but extremely poor at implementing them. We call on the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, and all other relevant authorities and agencies to take a good look at the WHO Malaria Report 2020 with a view to ensuring that Nigeria does not feature as the butt of cruel jokes again when similar reports are released in the future. It is a big shame that Nigeria accounts for more than half of the malaria-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.
The health ministry should ask for explanations to why the NMSP 2014-2020 failed to meet the target set for it. It should not wait for another year when the global body will release yet another report that will again ridicule and shame the country. It is disheartening that smaller countries like Benin Republic, Ghana, The Gambia and others fare by far better when performance reports are presented by global bodies.
A non-communicable disease and one that is preventable and treatable, a disease that does not require surgery or referral should not be what Nigeria cannot rise up and tackle in a manner that will earn it plaudits from the international community.
