Prof.Abiodun Adebayo, the Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University,Ota in Ogun State, has called for increased collaboration in the fight to kick out malaria from thecountry.
He made the call at an event to mark the 2023 World Malaria Day on Wednesday in Ota, Ogun.
Our Correspondent reports that World Malaria Day is celebrated annually across the worldo n April 25, to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.
The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day is “Time to Deliver Zero Malaria: Invest, Innovate, Implement.”
The don, therefore, said that children under the age of five years were most susceptible to the disease,with an estimated 100 million deaths per year in Nigeria.
He added that “a country like China has already been declared `Malaria Free’ by the United Nations whereas
some countries in Africa, including Nigeria, are still trying to cut it down by 30-90 per cent, making the issue of total
eradication by the year 2030 a tall order.”
The vice-chancellor said many people were still very far from intervention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease,
saying the ones affected mostly are the low income earners, pregnant women and children.
Adebayo said this year’s theme underscores a clarion call for concerted efforts of stakeholders to reboot and chart
the way for beating the target of eradicating malaria.
According to him, this is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal target 313 which calls for ending malaria by 2030.
He thanked the Community Development Impact Initiative Committee (CDIIC), the Ace Medicare Hospitals, Fidson Pharmaceuticals,
May & Baker and many others for their support in co-sponsoring the programme.
In her remarks, the Chairman, CDIIC, Dr Tayo George, commended the management of Covenant University for providing the platform
for the fight against the malaria scourge.
He also acknowledge the presence of the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America, among others.
Dr Oluwole Kukoyi, the Chief Medical Director, Ace Medicare Clinics, who was accompanied by members of the Association of
Nigerian Physicians in the Americas, also lauded the university’s initiative of reaching out to the less privileged.
Kukoyi said the institution partnered Ace Medicare Clinics to reach out to the public in many occasions.
Edited by Dada Ahmed with agency report.