Abuja – Malaria Consortium, an NGO, has developed 14 training modules for combatting malaria in Nigeria, an official has said.
Dr Kola Maxwell, Country Director of the consortium, said the modules would be driven by Support to National Malaria Programme (SuNMaP) to enhance interventions in malaria elimination in Nigeria.
Maxwell spoke in Abuja at the End of Project Dissemination on malaria across the country, funded by UK Department for International Development (DFID).
He said that the programme, which ran from 2008 to 2016, was conducted in 10 states, namely, Lagos, Ogun, Anambra, Enugu, Niger, Katsina, Kaduna, Yobe, Jigawa and Kano.
He explained that the benefitting states and their neighbours were selected as a result of predominant commercial activities.
The country director stated that the modules would serve as a guideline and tool to the states after the Malaria Programme had ended.
“The programme in terms of immediate output has supported two national strategic planning in 2009, 2013 and for the future 2020.
“We have also used this to support the national plan at the national level and the 10 states, not only between when we started and when we are leaving.
“The programme helped to develop a compendium of implementation guidelines and tools put together into two main categories which are service delivery ones and programme management ones.
“Totally, 14 training modules were developed and these 14 training modules have been rolled out in the 10 SuNMaP states,” he said.
He added that there were other programmes that were adopted as a national training tool and rolled out across the country.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
The director stated that within SuNMaP states, 23,000 health workers had been trained using the manuals and the states were using it to improve the quality of care for malaria.
He noted that the committee was trying to develop an operational manual for the next three years so that the states would have a document to be able to engage with next donor.
Maxwell said that malaria intervention in all parts of the country required evidence based study on the epidemiology of malaria in every locality which determined the scaling up.
Dr Nnenna Ezeigwe, National Coordinator, National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) in Nigeria, said that integrated vector management was the key strategy to eliminate malaria in the country.
Ezeigwe said that integrated vector management was targeting the vector of malaria (mosquito) and the key intervention in that area was the use of long lasting insecticidal net.
She said that catching the mosquito at the breading sight (larval source management) was another key strategy that would be used in eliminating malaria in Nigeria.
According to her, indoor residual spraying and environmental management is another intervention strategy.
“By catching and destroying the mosquitoes at a breading sight before they become adult and start attacking human beings.
“I advise that individuals should always keep their environments clean, no storing of dirty water and apply general cleanliness.
“Apply indoor residual spray and maintain a clean environment and also sleep in the long lasting insecticidal net,’’ she advised.
The Commissioner for Health in Ogun, Dr Babatunde Ipaye, said that the state had benefited from SuNMaP project.
He said that 600,000 long lasting insecticidal nets were distributed, particularly to pregnant women across the state.
He said that 500,000 people in the state had also benefited from high quality ACT anti-malaria that saved life.
Ipaye added that the state also benefited from systems development and planning, saying since 2011 SuNMaP had supported us to plan effectively and strengthen coordination.
He said that SuNMaP contributed to the making of the commissioner for health in Ogun state.
Mr Ben Mellor, Head of the UK-DFID in Nigeria, disclosed that the programme cost 89 million pounds for the period it lasted. (NAN)