Malaria: A Public Health Menace in Nigeria

 BACKGROUND

Nigeria has a tropical climate with temperatures ranging between 250C and 400 C. Average rainfall is about 2,650 millimetres in the southeast to less than 600 millimetres in some part of the north; with areas of mangrove swamps, tropical rain forests, coastal areas, open woodlands and Savannah. This climatic and geographic condition of Nigeria favours the transmission of malaria (Malaria Consortium, 2014), and is in keeping with the endemicity of the disease in the country. However, seasonal high transmission rates are observed between April and October during the raining season, and duration of transmission reduces from south to north in the country as the amount of rainfalls reduces (Roll Back Malaria, 2012).Nevertheless, beyond the climatic condition in favour of the disease in Nigeria, other environmental practices like water retention, poor sanitation  and  high population density contribute significantly to the level of the disease in Nigeria  (Okoye and Nwachukwu, 2012).

According to the Malaria Action Program for States (2014), malaria is responsible for 60% of outpatient visits, 30% hospital admissions in health facilities, 30 % of total childhood deaths and 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria. An estimated 132 billion Naira (838,564,000 USD) is lost in Nigeria from treatment costs, prevention and loss of work hours, and it has a great contribution to low school attendance (Malaria Action Program for States, 2014). There were about 100 million suspected cases and 300,000 cases of death among children in Nigeria at 2008 (Roll Back Malaria, 2012). From the statistics available on the burden of malaria in Nigeria, this disease is one of the most serious public health challenges facing the country presently. Malaria contributes greatly to human development retardation and this disease is a direct result of underdevelopment in Nigeria (Lagos State Ministry of Health, 2014).