Malaria: Borno Recorded 519 Deaths In One Year, Says Commissioner

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, April 25, (THEWILL) â€' As the 2014 World Malaria Day was celebrated across the globe on Friday, the Borno State Government said it recorded 519 deaths as a result of the scourge in the last one year.

The state commissioner for health, Dr. Salma Anas Kolo, who disclosed this in Maiduguri, the state capital, also said 406,000 cases of malaria were treated in the state during the period.

She however expressed happiness that cases of malaria have reduced drastically in the state due to the concerted effort of the state government in tackling the malaria challenge.

Kolo, who made the disclosures at an event organised to mark the Malaria Day, attributed the reduction of malaria cases in the state to what she described as the political commitment of the Governor Kashim Shettima Administration to eradicate the disease.

She disclosed that the effort has paid off as it has made the state the best performing state in the eradication of malaria in the North-eastern zone of the country and fourth overall in Nigeria.

'Malaria is a life threatening disease which affects the blood system, which in turn affects the red blood cell, as such our efforts also is to provide opportunity for donor partners to share and compliment each other as well as for our country to learn from each other.

'We have also worked towards establishing communications chains with our community so as to be able to tell the community about malaria, its symptoms, prevention and cure,' the commissioner said.

Explaining that malaria also affects the kidney, she lamented that Borno has a high rate of kidney failure, which , according to her, may have been the result of the malaria scourge.

She however assured that the state government would continue to work hard towards eliminating the malaria scourge.

She listed the efforts of the state government to eradicate the diseaseto include the renewed partnership with donor agencies, investment in the procurement of anti-malaria drugs as well as the procurement of rapid diagnostic test kits.

The commissioner also said that the Shettima Administration has trained over 1,000 health providers and banned the use of Chloroquine in all the health centres in the state.