Abdullahi Tukur Birnin.
The Kebbi State Government has assured its necessary support to the Malaria Consortium to eradicate malaria disease in the state.
This assurance was given by the State Deputy Governor, Senator Umar Abubakar Tafida, when he received a management team from the Malaria Consortium led by the West and Central Africa Program Director, Dr. Maxwell Kolawole, who paid him an advocacy visit in his office.
The Deputy Governor explained that malaria is an age-old disease and Kebbi State is blessed with vast fadama areas vulnerable to the disease.
He expressed optimism that the proposed partnership between the Consortium, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture to provide digital support to rice farmers and map water bodies will yield positive results in food production in the state.
Earlier, the West and Central Africa Program Director, Dr. Maxwell Kolawole, acknowledged the progress recorded in the ongoing Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) implementation Vaccine for children aged 1 to 59 months, saying that the program started last year on trial basis in Kebbi and Bayelsa States.
He explained that the Malaria Consortium has just concluded an implementation research – Malaria Vaccines Programme Learning Agenda Study in Kebbi State, and the findings would be shared across states in Nigeria.
Dr. Kolawole stated that a research suggests rice farming is one of the factors contributing to high malaria prevalence and assured that the Malaria Consortium will partner with the state government through the State Ministries of Health and Agriculture to provide digital support to rice farmers and map vulnerable water bodies in Kebbi State.
The visit was attended by the Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Sama’ila Muhammad Augie, Special Adviser to the Governor on International Donor Agencies, Dr. Usman Buhari Ali Gwandu, State Program Manager for Malaria Consortium, Dr. Ridwan Jega, among others.
