By YANGE IKYAA
On August 16, 2021, The United States government, through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), has donated five million bed nets to Nigeria’s Oyo State as part of a national campaign to provide enough nets for every Nigerian to be protected from the deadly disease every night.
In addition to the nets, PMI also provided funding for logistics, including transportation and community mobilization to be carried out in partnership with the Oyo State government, leading to the planning, coordination, and distribution effort amounting to an estimated value of $18 million, or ₦7.4 billion.
The distribution will benefit more than eight million residents of Oyo State, providing a minimum one net for every two people within each household.
The life-saving nets will reach all 33 local government areas in the state, as the bed net distribution exercise is a critical component of the ongoing effort to end malaria in Nigeria, a medical challenge which claims nearly 96,000 deaths per year.
“Malaria is a leading cause of illness and death in Nigeria, particularly now at the peak of the rainy season when mosquito populations increase dramatically,” said Ms. Celeste Carr, USAID’s acting PMI resident advisor, at the handover ceremony, adding further that “conquering malaria will not happen overnight and it will only happen if we all work together.”
Since 2011, PMI has procured more than 61 million insecticide-treated nets as part of a $712 million overall contribution to malaria control in Nigeria. PMI also supports advocacy and mobilization to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, and trains health workers to test for malaria before treatment.
“Malaria infection still poses a great threat to the social and economic wellbeing of the population of Oyo State,” Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, said at the ceremony.
According to him, “we must therefore do everything possible to safeguard our people, particularly the vulnerable group of women and children, with the help of stakeholders, including the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative.”
The PMI program in Nigeria is jointly implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in coordination with the government of Nigeria.
