Anokwuru Uche Alexis|27 January 2019
The Cross River State Government through the State Malaria Elimination Program (SMEP) has scheduled April 2019 for the distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) the inauguration and micro-plan debrief held recently at the Saving One Million Lives Program for Results (SOML P4R) office in Calabar, the State capital.
In her welcome address, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Inyang Asibong, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Joseph Bassey, pointed that there's a need for LLINs to be replaced in households every three years while households with none will receive theirs. The aim is to ensure every household has a treated net which is the first step towards malaria elimination, she said.
The SMEP Director, Dr. Iwara Iwara, spelled out the roles and responsibilities of the newly inaugurated committee members while the committee as a whole, he said, will enumerate the role of the LLINs as a single entity in the malaria fight and provide clarification on issues relating to the distribution campaign as a whole in order to achieve success.
The implimentation which is set to commence in April will feature a 9 day household mobilization from 190 distribution points identified across the 18 Local Government Areas of the State.
The LLINs distribution proper will last for 5 days with over one million households set to receive 2 nets each from the estimated 2.3m LLINs set received for the campaign while data collation will commence for 5 days after the distribution, bringing to an end the exercise which takes place every 3 years in the State.
In Nigeria, malaria is responsible for over 300,000 deaths annually with an estimated 100 million malaria cases, and it also contributes to an estimated 11% of maternal mortality. Only 3% of the world population live in malaria-free highlands.
