DISTRIBUTION OF 2,600,000 INSECTICIDE TREATED NETS TO BEGIN IN KWARA ON 19TH OF THIS MONTH 03-10-23
By Sadiq Aminu Distribution of over two point six million insecticide treated nets to different households in Kwara State, will begin on the 19th of this month.
The exercise which will take place in the one hundred and ninety-three wards of the State, will run till the first of November, 2023.
This was announced at a one day sensitization workshop for journalists in Kwara State ahead of the exercise. Aside the over two point six million nets earmarked for the exercise, over two million Spaq, a medicine used for malaria prevention, will also be administered to children between the ages of three to fifty-nine months.
In a presentation, the representative of National Malaria Prevention Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Bala Muhammed explained that the interventions became necessary due to increase cases of malaria during raining season.
Mr Muhammed stated that this year’s malaria campaign in Kwara State will be done using four approaches specific to some Local Government Areas, based on findings from a research done earlier in the year.
In a remark, the Director, Technical and Programme, Society for Family Health, Mr John Ocholi said that malaria can only be gotten through mosquito bites hence it is preventable by ensuring that the environment is clean at all times, especially during raining season and sleeping under insecticide treated nets.
Mr Ocholi said that Six thousand personnel have been deployed for the programme and that their activities would be monitored with the use of technology. Earlier in an address of welcome, the Kwara State Director for Public Health, Oluwatosin Fakayode said that the exercise will not run both during weekdays and weekends to ensure that everyone, particularly children benefit from the programme.
The Insecticide Treated Nets cum Seasonal Malaria Chemotherapy Mass Campaign is being done by the Kwara State Government in conjunction with the National Malaria Elimination Programme and Society for Family Health with funding support from the Global Fund Malaria Project.