NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia
Nasarawa State government says plans have been concluded to commence the seasonal malaria chemoprevention, SMC, for the fourth year in a row. During the period, nine hundred and eighty-five thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight children of age three to fifty-nine months will be vaccinated against one of the six killer diseases in Africa. The prevention strategy is to be implemented through the process of chemoprevention. The state commissioner of Health, Gaza Gwamna gave this overview during a press briefing, on Monday, in Lafia, the State capital to mark the commencement of the exercise.
The chemoprevention which is endorsed by the World Health Organisation and supported by Malaria Consortium, Dr Gwamna said, has already reduced the malaria disease burden in the State by 15 per cent after the three previous administrations.
Technically, the drug combination is found to be safe as it is not new to healthcare providers. “The drug combination used in the SMC is known to us and has been in use to prevent malaria amongst pregnant women during pregnancy, the Sulfadoxine – Pyrimethamine, popularly known as Fansidar, or Amalar, Maldox and Amodiaquine. We are conversant with these drugs and they are technically known to be safe, effective as well as tolerated by children in the respective concentrations used in the formulation,” Dr. Gwamna noted.
By design, the medication will be distributed to healthy kids within the specified age range across the thirteen Local Government Areas of the State. Requisite personnel, Dr. Gwamna said, have been trained for that purpose, including eleven thousand, seven hundred and fifty-five ad hoc staff drawn from the communities, trained and equipped for the interventionist exercise. The plan which follows a categorisation of the personnel, Gwamna said, will see some of them, the Community Drug Distributors, go house-to-house to deliver the drugs. There are also Town Announcers, The Lead Mothers, The Supervisors and the Health Facility Workers. These officials, it was explained, will distribute the drugs for five months.
The drugs are to be administered free of charge from the Nasarawa State government with support from the Malaria Consortium. While emphasising the commitment of Governor Sule Abdullahi “Towards the health and other people-oriented developmental interventions in the State,” The Commissioner called on for concerted effort from “traditional and religious leaders, as well as the cooperation of our mothers, caregivers and fathers,” to make the SMC 2024 exercise successful across the State.
Pix: Dr. Gaza Gwamna