USAID Distributes Treated Mosquitoe Nets

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through its NETMARK Project, at the weekend distributed more than 30,000 insecticide treated nets (ITN) free to residents of Wudil local government area of Kano State. A release made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) today in Lagos, said that the programme was part of measures designed by USAID to control malaria in Nigeria. The distribution was carried out with the support of Kano State Ministry of Health and coordinated by Delybimb Malaria Foundation, an NGO. Distributing the net, Dr Garba Abdu, the USAID Mission representative, described Malaria as one of the topmost killer diseases in Africa, and Nigeria in particular. He described the exercise as USAID's contribution toward the realisation of the 2002 Abuja Declaration. Under the arrangement, USAID is expected to distribute 245,000 ITNs free to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women and children under the age of five. The NetMark Country Manager, Mr Oluwole Adeusi, said that Wudil was chosen for the free net programme because of the vulnerability of the people in the area to malaria and their poor access to past interventions. He said the programme commenced last year and would continue until universal coverage was attained. The Commissioner for Health, Malama Aisha Ishyaku-Kiru, said that malaria control was a priority of the government as it accounted for an economic burden of about N132 billion annually. She explained that the government had adopted a multi-sectoral approach to malaria control, adding that ITN distribution was part of the strategies to fight the disease. The commissioner listed other malaria fighting strategies as community mobilisation, collaboration with NGOs/Donor agencies, environmental spraying, as well as provision of drugs to vulnerable groups. The District Head of Wudil, Makaman Kano, Alhaji Sarki Abdullahi, thanked USAID/NetMark for bringing "good tidings to his locality"

 

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