Malaria: Residents laud SFH, Niger govt over mosquito nets distribution

Wed, Nov 13, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Health

RESIDENTS of Rafi Local Government Area of Niger have commended Society for Family Health (SFH) and the state government for the free distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN) to prevent malaria attack.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Rafi on Wednesday, the residents said that the gesture would reduce incidents of infants mortality due to malaria scourge.

Sani Idris, a trader, said that distribution of the nets would go a long way in fighting the scourge of malaria as ‘it is killing many of our people’.

“Our women and children are dying from malaria, even we, the men, are not immune to it anymore. It is because of this reason I must commend SFH and the government for coming to our aid with the nets.

“Only God knows how many lives are going to be saved as a result of this great intervention from government and SFH, which is coming at the right time,” he said.

At Adamu Turaki distribution point, under Sabon Gari ward, one of the beneficiaries, Sadiya Umar, called on SFH and government to sustain the campaign.

“This is a laudable effort and if it’s possible, I would like them to continue this campaign even after now.

“They should make the distribution a regular programme, may be once in every quarter so more people can be reached with the nets,” she added.

Another beneficiary, Zahra Bappah, noted that though government had done well to provide the nets, their population was underestimated as the nets were not sufficient.

“The nets are not sufficient for our people and that is probably because they underestimated our population when they were planning.

“Having said that, I want to commend them for providing these nets in the first place and they should keep it up and do more in future,” she added.

Other residents who spoke in similar vain called on government to ensure provision of adequate security to enable them sleep comfortably inside their nets.

The State Supervisor of the LLIN Campaign in Rafi, Musa Inuwa, told NAN that 158,400 nets were earmarked for Rafi with about 90 per cent distributed so far.

Inuwa said though distribution ends Wednesday, residents with net cards would still be given a window of grace of Thursday and Friday to collect their nets.

On his part, Abdullahi Isah, the Roll Back Malaria Focal person in Rafi, commended security agencies for ensuring residents in Madaka and Kursheki North wards which had security challenges were reached.

NAN reports that the SFH in collaboration with the Niger state government on Nov. 7 launched the distribution of 3.6 million mosquito nets worth over N3 billion across the state.

NAN

– November 13, 2019 @ 15:25 GMT |

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