We have spent $420m to fight malaria in Nigeria - U.S

The U.S. has spent more than $420 million in the fight against malaria in Nigeria since 2010, the Deputy Head of Mission, U.S. Embassy, David Young, said on Monday.

He said that $75 million was spent in 2016 alone.

Young, stated this in Abuja at the commemoration of 2017 World Malaria Day organised by the U.S. Embassy.


He said prevention and control remained a major U.S. foreign assistance objective.

“The U.S. Government, through Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is committed to raising awareness about the proper prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this disease,” he said

“Ending malaria will increase school attendance, boost workers’ productivity and significantly lower out-of-pocket cost for treatment.
“This is why malaria prevention and control remain a major U.S. foreign assistance objective.
“Each year in Nigeria, more than 80 million people fall ill and 300,000 die from malaria,” he said.

Young said that Nigeria had in 2015 adopted the T3 (test, treat and track) strategy for malaria case management.

He said that the strategy helped to improve overall management of patients with febrile illnesses and reduced the emergence and spread of drug resistance to anti-malarial medications. (NAN)