Provide free malaria treatment for citizens, group urges government
Civil Society for Malaria control, Immunisation and Nutrition, has urged the government to provide free malaria treatment for citizens.
Speaking during a media briefing on Thursday, the state Coordinator of the group, Hassana Maisanda, said the treatment of malaria should be made free with unhindered access.
Maisanda said, “Every person irrespective of their socio-economic class, gender, ethnicity, demography and location should have equal rights and unrestricted access to malaria treatment and other healthcare services.”
She also called on the government to ensure the improvement of the health system.
“The civil society also encourages building the resilience of the community health systems which can be achieved by promoting community ownership and investment in health systems. When strong health systems are in place, it is almost certain that efforts put in to fight malaria will be effective. trackable and sustainable, especially at the community level,” Maisanda said.
While speaking on the gains of partnership in ensuring the elimination of Malaria, Maisanda said a lot still needed to be achieved.
She said, “Community investments in health have noticeably improved since the introduction of the Community-led Monitoring (CLM) project being implemented by ACOMIN, with support from the Global Fund (GF).
Also speaking, Programme Manager of ACOMIN Samuel Chuwang called on the government to increase budgetary allocations to health, especially malaria elimination, adding that would end curb the disease.
On her part, Betty Kathy of the National Malaria Elimination Programme called for community engagement, while lamenting the use of mosquito nets to cover farmlands.
Kathy said, “If the person you are giving Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN), is not using it then all the efforts do not make sense. It is the responsibility of us at this level to ensure they are aware.
“As we speak, we have people using mosquito nets to cover their farm, to cover where they keep animals but the aim is beyond that. We need to build resilience since every effort counts.”