FG to spend 1.8bn on insecticide treated nets

Abuja - Dr Muhammad Pate, Minister of State for Health, on Monday said the ministry had proposed N1.8 billion for the procurement of long lasting insecticide treated nets for additional three states. Pate disclosed the plan in Abuja while reacting to a recent annual WHO report on universal access to malaria treatment.

The annual WHO report stated that five billion dollars (about N790 bn) would be needed each year over the next decade to ensure universal access to malaria treatment. The report noted that Nigeria would need one billion dollars (about N158 bn) to stave off backsliding and resurgences in malaria in 2013 and 2014.

The report also highlighted that delivery of bed-nets in sub Saharan Africa dropped from a peak of 145 million in 2010 to an estimated 66 million in 2012.

It also said that indoor spraying programmes reached only about seven million people in Africa out of an estimated 77 million people at risk.

But the minister said that other partners like Global Fund, World Bank and USAID were contributing positively in Nigeria's malaria effort.

Pate said that the Save One Million Lives Initiative launched in October 2012 had malaria control as a key component.

``We will push to maintain the gains already made using evidence-based, cost-effective interventions within limits of resources available,'' he said.

........NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA (NAN)

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