In Nigeria, where a quarter of global malaria cases and deaths occur, Malaria Consortium is working with the government to build national capacity to tackle the disease
Abuja, Nigeria 2012 - A quarter of all malaria cases and deaths in the world occur in Nigeria. Through SuNMaP – Support to National Malaria Programme - Malaria Consortium is working with the Ministry of Health to strengthen the delivery of malaria control systems to tackle the disease.
SuNMaP works to improve all aspects of malaria prevention and control in the country, from facilitating the distribution of nets and distributing preventive malaria treatment for pregnant women through antenatal clinics, to management capacity building within the Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).
A recently published report examines the programmes achievements, experiences and lessons learned to-date and highlights the implications of these findings for malaria control programmes worldwide.
Key programme achievements
In 2010, with significant support from SuNMaP, household Long Lasting Insecticide Nets coverage in Nigeria was found to be at 41 per cent nationwide, up from 8 percent in 2008, and particularly strong in SuNMaP supported states. National figures indicate that access to prompt and effective treatment for malaria with ACTs (artemisinin-based combination therapy) has improved from 2.8 percent in 2008 to 5.9 percent in 2010, based on the number of children under-five years presenting with fever episodes in the last two weeks.
SuNMaP has also delivered refresher training on malaria prevention and case management for 6,062 health workers and an additional 3,256 Patent Medical Vendors, often the main point of contact for people suffering from malaria between March 2010 and March 2012 in programme supported states.
Beyond training of health workers and distribution of preventive tools such as (Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets) mosquito nets, SuNMaP experts are working with the Ministry of Health’s National Malaria Control Programme team to help build the systems and ensure that team members have the skills required for good management of malaria control. By March 2012, 68 health management teams from SuNMaP supported states had benefited from SuNMaP support for planning, monitoring and evaluating and general management of malaria control activities
The full report is available to download here.
For more information about malaria consortium, please contact [email protected].