The Country Director, Christian Aid, Mr. Charles Usie, has stated that people should be cautious of malaria disease and they need to actually need to test for malaria by using “Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit”, instead of going by their own assumptions of having malaria symptoms.
He made this known in an interview with our correspondent, sequel to the World Malaria Day celebrated on the 26th of April 2016. He stated that malaria kills over 300,000 lives every year which is not acceptable for a country with its wealth and resources, adding that it is the denial of basic right survival to many people who suffer that; “It is more of social and medical issue, an issue to be taken up by social activist and social ad hocs. That is why we are involved in the campaign for malaria, because we know that government policies, appropriately spending of budget allocated will be able to solve this whole challenge of malaria”, he intimated.
Charles pointed out that once malaria is seen as a medical issue, that it is preventable, stressing that the cause of malaria is the transmission of malaria bacteria parasite by mosquitoes to an individual, hence, if one can stay away from mosquitoes, he can also stay away from malaria.
Usie, stated that their target is poor and marginalized people who have little access to information the average Nigerians can get on their mobile phones and other means.
“Our message is: stay away from mosquitoes, keep a neat and healthy environment, sleep under a mosquito treated net, it keeps you away from malaria and will crash the potential to be save from malaria treatment as much as 80%.
“Our campaign is to ensure that people get tested before they are confirmed to having malaria before they can start treatment and not assume because their body is warm and go and start treatment. There is already a laydown treatment plan by the federal government which everybody must key into”, he advised.
Also spoken to was an Executive Officer, Legal Unit at Women Development Centre, Mr. Hassan Lamu, who stated that people should always sanitize their environments so as to eliminate malaria disease in the country; he also affirmed that people should make sure that they get tested for malaria before starting treatment.
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