Data and effective, long-term strategies to eradicate malaria in Nigeria have been requested by the Nigerian government by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other interested parties.
Having precise and reliable data is crucial to accelerate the fight against malaria in the country, according to Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, who spoke at the Ministerial Roundtable Meeting – Rethinking Malaria Elimination in Nigeria, held in Abuja.
According to her, if Nigeria wants to step up its efforts, it should put more money into gathering data from local communities.
If we want to see a difference in our country, she says, “political commitment translated into action like we are seeing here in Nigeria with the increase in the budget.”
The country is implementing measures that can lessen the impact of malaria, according to Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, the minister of health and social welfare.
He emphasized the need for community leaders from all walks of life to work together in the battle against malaria, and he urged investors to help fund efforts to eradicate the disease and control it, including the development of anti-malaria medications in the area.
No one from Geneva is going to be able to fix the malaria problem in Nigeria, so the minister emphasized the need of community leaders from all walks of life working together.
“The Nigerian population’s traditional, religious, and business leaders will band together to end malaria once and for all.”
In order to change things up, he said, Nigerians need to stop being so idealistic and start being more pragmatic about what they can achieve. This means having lofty goals but also being realistic about how far they can go.