The United States Government, through the Presidential Malaria Initiative, PMI has donated 2.4 million bed nets to Plateau State as part of a national campaign to provide enough insecticide-treated nets across Nigeria.
The PMI programme is jointly implemented by the US Agency for International Development, USAID and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC. The life-saving nets will be distributed in the 17 local government areas of Plateau State.
In a statement, the USAID Resident Legal Adviser, Jonathan Cone said as long as there are mosquitos, there will be malaria.
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Cone added that if everybody works together to protect themselves from being bitten by sleeping under a bed net every night, they can control malaria for the good health of everyone in Plateau State and across Nigeria.
In addition to the $6.9 million worth of nets, PMI also provided funding for logistics, including transportation and community mobilisation, in partnership with the Plateau State Government, which led the planning, coordination, and distribution effort.
Cone said the bed net distribution is a critical component of the ongoing effort to end malaria in Nigeria, which killed an estimated 82,000 people in 2017 and is the country’s leading cause of death for children.
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According to the statement, this activity will benefit all 3 million residents of Plateau, providing at a minimum one net for every two people within each household.
Since 2011, PMI has procured more than 60 million insecticide-treated nets, valued at $126 million as part of a $565 million overall contribution to malaria control in Nigeria. PMI also supports advocacy and mobilization to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night and trains health workers to test for malaria before treatment.
