TO reduce deaths and disabilities of Nigerians as a result of malaria, Professor Adetokunbo Lucas, a foremost public health expert, has said required early diagnosis and treatment, which the Patent Medicine Vendors (PMVs)  can help support due to their nationwide coverage.

Professor Lucas, who was speaking at a one-day national debriefing meeting of the Future Health System (FHS) in Abuja, stated that Nigeria still lose a million children annually because people are not there immediately to prescribe the appropriate malaria drugs.

According to him, “early diagnosis and treatment of malaria saves life. The role of PMVs is important in achieving this considering their wide geographical distribution. The required technical knowledge, PMVS can learn so that where necessary, they can promptly refer.”

Professor Lucas, Chairman, National Advisory Panel, FHS, emphasised that all delay in children assessing malaria treatment at different levels, including at home, should be removed. According to him, “delay at home can be helped by teaching mothers to recognise malaria and treat. Teaching mothers to recognise malaria and administer medicine reduce death rate by half and I suggest that this should be the next stage for FHS to go,”

“Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) is very fast in tackling malaria and we must ensure that people have access to effective technologies for malaria control.”

National Coordinator, National Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Babajide Coker, calling for partnerships that would ensure the poor in the society assess malaria treatment, stated that this would be central to reducing deaths from malaria to the barest minimum.

Meanwhile, he assured that when the Affordable Medicine Malaria intervention’s MOU is signed by the Federal government by the end of August, this would make cost of ACT comparable to choloquine and boost access of every Nigerian to effective treatment.

Earlier, Professor Oladimeji Oladepo, FHS country coordinator, stated that currently, 11 per cent of mothers and 29 per cent of children under-five years, continue to die from malaria.

However, Professor Oladepo said ACT was still limited in the public sector and quality of anti-malarial drugs stored by PMVs in Nigeria was still low.

He said tapping into the capacity of PMVs in anti-malarial medicine provision and strengthening this group to provide quality malaria drug was imperative in meeting health-related millennium development goals.

Professor Oladepo urged that the relationship between the various contending actors on medicines, including the policy makers, pharmacists and PMVs be strengthened for a better fight against malaria.