By Dr Arome Salifu
Beyond the irritating buzzing sounds of mosquitos lies a more deadly threat that makes Malaria to be routinely described as a public-health challenge. In reality, it is one of Nigeria’s most enduring economic emergencies. Beyond its human toll, the disease steadily erodes productivity, drains household income, and suppresses long-term growth in ways that no fiscal or macroeconomic reform can fully offset if malaria itself remains unchecked.
The economic costs are substantial and persistent. Nigeria is estimated to lose about USD 1.1 billion annually to malaria through treatment expenses, absenteeism, and reduced labour output. When broader healthcare costs and productivity losses are included, the figure rises to USD 1.1–1.6 billion each year, with projections of USD 2.8 billion by 2030 if current control efforts falter. For households, the burden is immediate and severe. In some states, malaria accounts for over 40 per cent of curative healthcare spending, with an average episode costing families approximately ₦12,530 in direct and indirect expenses an unsustainable sum for low-income households.
These losses extend well beyond today’s balance sheet. Malaria-related absenteeism alone costs Nigeria roughly USD 1.1 billion annually. Children miss school, learning outcomes deteriorate, and the quality of the future workforce is quietly compromised. At the macroeconomic level, sustained malaria transmission depresses GDP growth, deters investment, and weakens human-capital formation. The opportunity cost is immense. Studies suggest that a 90 per cent reduction in malaria prevalence could add as much as USD 35 billion to Nigeria’s GDP by 2030.
Against this backdrop, incremental progress is no longer sufficient. What Nigeria requires and is increasingly beginning to demonstrate is a coordinated response that treats malaria not as a stand-alone disease programme, but as a national development priority.
This shift is becoming more visible at the federal level. Under the leadership of Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has sought to align malaria control with broader health-system reform. The National Malaria Elimination Programme provides the operational backbone, while the National Malaria Strategic Plan (2021–2025) offers a clear framework built around data-driven targeting, strengthened surveillance, effective case management, vector control, and sustained behaviour change. Importantly, political commitment has been reinforced through national councils and multi-sectoral platforms that recognise malaria as a shared responsibility, not solely a health-sector concern.
Yet strategy alone does not defeat malaria. Implementation does. This is where sub-national innovation and credible partnerships become decisive and where Edo State offers an instructive example.
In February 2025, the Africa Youth Growth Foundation launched an ambitious malaria-elimination initiative in Edo State in partnership with the state government, the National Malaria Elimination Programme, and the Islamic Development Bank. The project’s strength lies not in novelty, but in rigour. It approaches malaria elimination as a coverage challenge, rather than an advocacy exercise.
The programme integrates prevention, treatment, and community education around explicit, measurable targets: expanding treatment coverage from approximately 71 per cent to universal access, and scaling up intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) to protect mothers and infants. The emphasis is not merely on distributing commodities, but on removing access barriers in underserved communities precisely where malaria persists longest and imposes the highest economic cost.
AYGF’s Support to Malaria Elimination Project (SMEP) spans all 18 local government areas in Edo State and has been instrumental in the state’s malaria response. Implemented in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme and supported by funding from the Islamic Development Bank, the project has provided more than 650,000 people particularly children and pregnant women with access to free malaria treatment and prevention services. By directly addressing one of the leading causes of illness and mortality, the initiative has helped save countless lives, significantly reducing malaria-related deaths and improving health outcomes across entire communities.
The broader lesson is clear. Malaria will not be defeated by slogans or fragmented interventions. It requires leadership at the centre, discipline in implementation, and partnerships that expand capacity rather than duplicate effort. Nigeria already possesses much of the necessary architecture: ministerial coordination, a capable national programme, a coherent strategic plan, and increasingly effective state-level delivery mechanisms. What remains is scale, consistency, and sustained political will.
If Nigeria succeeds, the dividends will extend far beyond fewer fevers and funerals. The country will gain stronger households, a more productive workforce, and billions of dollars reclaimed for growth. In this sense, the fight against malaria is not merely a public-health campaign. It is a national economic strategy and one that Nigeria can, and must, win.
Dr Arome Salifu is Executive Director of the Africa Youth Growth Foundation. He writes from Abuja.
