Daily Times Nigeria Thursday, April 23, 2015
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Politics Page Three Æ s Editorial Ending the malaria scourge in Nigeria
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n Saturday April 25, the international community will be marking “World Malaria Day.” The day has been set aside to sensitise people, especially those living in tropics on the danger posed by this fatal disease. Meanwhile, experts including World Health Organisation (WHO) and other stakeholders have posited that Nigeria needs to intensify efforts if the battle against the scourge is to be won. Definitely, we support every initiatives meant to reduce the global impact of malaria, especially in Nigeria and other Third World countries that are always victims of its debilitating effects. Globally, it is estimated that 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria. Incidentally, those at risk include children and pregnant women in Africa, Asia, Latin America and a lesser extent in the Middle East. Carrier of the disease, the female anopheles mosquito, has become resistant to many insecticides used to control its spread. Similarly, plasmodium (the disease-causing parasite that is carried in the gut of the mosquito and transmitted through its saliva when it feeds) has become resistant to many of the drugs used to treat the disease, while P. falciparum, the most severe form of malaria in humans and the cause of most cases in sub-Saharan Africa, is now resistant to chloroquine, the most commonly used anti-malarial drug, in practically all malaria-endemic countries in Africa. It will be stating the obvious that malaria imposes substantial costs on both individuals and governments. For individuals, they include purchase of drugs
for treatment of malaria, lost days of work, absence from school and even expenses for burial in case of deaths. On part of the government it entails maintenance, supply and staffing of health facilities, public health interventions, such as insecticides spraying and lost opportunities for joint economic ventures and tourism. It is therefore time the authorities step up efforts to combat the disease through multidimensional approaches that include promoting preventive interventions such as use of insecticidetreated mosquito nets in homes, adherence to best practices in management of malaria by medical practitioners, vaccine research and the use of insecticide spraying such as DDT on breeding sites. It is also necessary to explore the use of indigenous natural mosquito repellant plant species. Pharmaceutical companies should also study local anti-malarial herbs to determine their efficacy on malaria and effective and safe dosages should be found. In all, the solution to malaria control still lie within local communities. Culturally, the two most susceptible groups of people, pregnant mothers and infant children, tend to sleep together. Therefore, the mud homes in rural areas should be white washed to avoid attracting mosquitoes. Moreover, cracks and crevices where stagnant water can collect should be sealed. Finally, those oil companies working in the Niger Delta areas, where there are many marshy swamps and a high prevalence of malaria should be required to contribute to a general malaria control fund, while the people must be impressed upon to keep their environment tidy.
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Shekau: Time Magazine’s big goof Sam Nzeh
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The listing of Boko Haram sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, as among the 100 most influential persons in the world by Time Magazine, a United States of America top media outfit, has once again exposed the callousness of the West to the plight of Nigerians who in the past six years have been under the yoke of the insurgent group. Recall that the magazine last week named Shekau alongside the Presidentelect, General Muhammadu Buhari, Dr. Obiagaeli Ezekwesili, former Education minister and, Chimamanda Adichie, a writer, among world’s most influential per-
sons. Not a few Nigerians wonder what the magazine wants to achieve by listing a man who has brought nothing but sorrow to many families and the nation as an “influential person”. Could it be that because those killed and maimed by Shekau and his sect are not Americans, so they don’t matter to the magazine? Could the Time magazine have named late Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, or the leader of the Islamic State as an influential person as it has now done to Shekau? How can a man who delights in slaughtering people and dances on their graves among other heinous acts be linked with anything that has a connotation of positive values? There is no justification for the action of the maga-
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zine as it sends a dangerous message especially to young persons in the insurgency ravaged parts of northern Nigeria. These young ones, largely uneducated and unemployed, are likely to see the magazine’s naming of Shekau as an endorsement of his actions and may decide to toe his path or even surpass him. So, unless Time magazine is saying that the blood of Nigerians being spilled by Shekau and his sect on a daily basis means nothing to them, then it may go ahead eulogizing him and others like him. It only shows that the magazine values American lives more than those of Nigerians and that it is in concert with forces that have vowed to decimate Nigerians, destabilise Nigeria and disintegrate it.
STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER
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Fidelis Anosike
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Editor, Standard, Archives and Special projects
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Isime Esene Remi Ogunkoya
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Noel Anosike
Doyin Awomosu
Gabriella Osamor
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Yinka Olujimi
Chude Jideonwo Yemi Ogunsola Sam Nzeh
Acting Bureau Chief, Northern Operations Lateef Ibrahim
Segun Adio Okay Osuji
Sports Editor
Andrew Ekejiuba
Head of Operations Innocent Nwankwo
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Adetayo Adelaja
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Charles Kettering
Norman Vincent Peale
John F. Kennedy
Head ICT (Shared Services) Banjo Ayorinde
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress
Change your thoughts and you change your world
Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future
Emmanuel Ogbonnaya
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