A non-governmental organisation, Wellness Africa Foundation (WAF), has called for sustainable funding for the primary healthcare system in Ogun state to effectively tackle the cases of malaria amongst people at the grassroots level.
WAF also advocated for the improvement of existing Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) while appealing to the government to provide malaria test kits and recruit more health personnel across the PHCs.
The Foundation made the call during an outreach it organized on Thursday, 25th April to commemorate World Malaria Day in partnership with members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) for residents of the Itoko community in Abeokuta South Local Government area of the state on Thursday with the theme “Youths Against Malaria.”
The organisation sensitised the community members on the dangers of malaria and the preventive measures against it.
Earlier before the sensitisation programme, the Foundation mobilised the corps members to the Itoko community, where they carried out environmental sanitation exercises to prevent the breeding of the malaria-causing female anopheles mosquito.
The Youth Coordinator for WAF, Owolabi Favour Feyisayo, while speaking with newsmen, said there is a need for adequate funding for the primary health care system in the state against malaria.
Owolabi said “Malaria is still a huge public health concern in Nigeria as it contributes about 27% of the global mortality, according to WHO. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know how dangerous malaria is, and that is why we are doing this outreach. Malaria is one of the contributors to infant mortality, even killing faster than HIV. Our mission here is to educate Itoko residents on the preventive measures against malaria.
“Although the government should provide PHCs with basic things like mosquito nets and medications for malaria control, community residents likewise need to always maintain clean environments to prevent stagnant water, bush, and other breeding sites for mosquitoes”, the WAF’s youth coordinator added.
Also addressing participants at the event, one of the Corps members, Folahanmi Martin urged the state government to make it mandatory for residents to come out en masse for environmental sanitation during the monthly exercise.
He also appealed to the government to upgrade the primary health care system for people at the grassroots to have access to good health care.
Folahanmi said “Government should provide infrastructures like good roads with well-drained gutters such that water will not be able to accumulate as breeding sites for mosquitoes. They should also make available mosquito nets and more primary health centres.”
