Ministry of Health, Dr. Nnenna Ezeigwe said the country
needed about $700 million (about N112 billion) within
the next three years to eradicate malaria.
Speaking in Abuja at the 2014 GBCHealth/CAMA Annual Technical
Forum themed: "Capitalising on Competences:
Partnering to Eliminate Malaria and Accelerate Impact on
Maternal and Child Health", which was supported by
Access Bank Plc, she said the federal government alone
does not have the financial capacity to address malaria.
She urged other tiers of government, including the
private sector to form partnerships in order to rid the
country of the disease.
He also lamented that though government's strategies
at containing malaria including the distribution of treated
mosquito nets to communities had recorded 80 per cent
coverage, most Nigerians still do not make use of their
nets.
She said there was need to improve awareness
nationwide.
"We have about over 80 per cent coverage of nets
through campaign and even continuous distribution of
nets, distribution is going on even as I speak with you,
we do not have problems with that. The problem is with
usage. Even people that have it, most of them don't use
it. Only less than 50 per cent of the whole population are
using the nets.
"The problem is getting the message out there. People
don't understand why they should use it. We need to
continuously remind them because when you hear
something once, it may not make too much of a sense
but if you continue to hear it every day, it may begin to
make common sense.
"Government cannot do it alone, we don't have the
money. This is a very large country; government cannot
do it alone to reach all the nooks and cranny. State and
local governments can come in, private sector can come
in- and everybody doing it together", she said.
Head, Development Banking, Access Bank, Mr.
Oluwatoyin Idowu, who also spoke at the occasion
said:"We believe in strong corporate social responsibility
(CSR) and being one of the leading banks in the country,
we believe that we need to give back to the community
and this is one of the things that we have been doing
under our CSR.
We have done a couple of things in the past and we will
continue to do it. We partner with them (GBC Health) to
ensure that the subject of discourse, which is eradication
of malaria and maternal and child mortality is
addressed."
"As you know, health is wealth. So we believe that this is
an area that you really have to focus on when you solve
these issues you make the world a better place.
He said the bank accords much privilege to the health
care sector "because we believe that a healthy society
will help create more wealth and enhance the
development of the nation."
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