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T H I S D AY MONDAY APRIL 25, 2016
EDITORIAL ENDING MALARIA FOR GOOD There is still much to do to rout the malaria scourge
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s people across the world today mark the 2016 Malaria Day with the theme, “End Malaria for Good”, it is another reminder to the health authorities in Nigeria that this is still one battle that needs to be won, even when gains have been made in recent years. “While efforts to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria have gained important momentum over the past years, an annual shortfall in funding threatens to slow down progress, particularly across Africa where high-burden countries are facing critical funding gaps,” said a statement from the World Health Organisation (WHO)at the weekend. As we have stated in the past, many citizens would gladly wish that the problem of malaria in Nigeria can be solved at the mere mounting of insecticide-treated mosquito nets. But with the environmental conditions and associated ailments, which have all combined to make malaria a scourge for both the young and old, especially the millions of pregnant women and young children under the age of five, the statistics of deaths from the disease COMBATING MALARIA remain startling high. REQUIRES MULTIFACETED What makes the ACTIONS AND situation particuPARTNERSHIPS INVOLVING larly worrisome is that PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, there is a significant INTERNATIONAL AND CIVIL slowdown in global SOCIETY SECTORS funding of antimalaria campaigns which may roll back impressive gains made against the mosquito-borne disease over the last decade. In its World Malaria Report 2012, for instance, WHO noted that rapid expansion in global funding for malaria prevention and control between 2004 and 2009 levelled off between 2010 and 2012. Yet statistics revealed that malaria struck an estimated 219 million people across the world in 2010, killing about 660,000, mostly children under five years of age. Not too long ago, the United Nations’ SecretaryGeneral’s Special Envoy for Malaria said that more
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than 90 per cent of the world’s malaria deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, adding that approximately $3.6 billion additional funding was required for anti-malaria programmes within region until the end of 2015. The funds that were garnered for combating the disease within the period in question were not anyway near that figure.
H T H I S DAY
EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN
T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, EMMANUEL EFENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OLUFEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, FIDELIS ELEMA, MBAYILAN ANDOAKA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD FEMI TOLUFASHE ART DIRECTOR OCHI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com
owever, the situation is not all bleak. The World Bank has revealed that over the past decade, 11 African countries have reduced malaria cases by more than 50 per cent. The Bank has also reported steady progress in Nigeria. The National Malaria Control Programme is moving to increase access to malaria prevention, treatment services and community mobilisation so as to reduce the burden of the disease. However, combating malaria requires multifaceted actions and partnerships involving public and private, international and civil society sectors. To the extent that defeating malaria is critical to ending poverty and improving maternal and child health, Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind and it is for this reason that we must commend the efforts of former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose foundation is partnering with an American based organisation, Moskeeto Armor, in the bid to protect children on the continent against malaria and other vector-borne diseases. “The simple principle of ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself’ lays a foundation of commitment to protecting nations,” said Jonathan during the meeting with Moskeeto Armor in New York, United States at the weekend. “These crises caused by such small insects, transmitting these deadly diseases, have devastated so many lives across Africa and the world, but with one just as small idea, there is hope for a better tomorrow.” As the world marks the 2016 Malaria day, with the most appropriate theme of ending the disease for good, the hope is that Nigerian health authorities will adopt the best possible strategy and partnership that will help in the efforts to eventually eradicate the scourge from our country.
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THE YOUTHS IN BOKO HARAM CONFLICT ZONE
here are quite a number of young people in the Lake Chad region (Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad) that are affected by the Boko Haram conflict. The Chibok girls are a good example. The March 2016 edition of the monthly situation report by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and International Organisation for Migration (IMO) indicated that there were seven million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Nigeria, including 1.9 million displaced by the Boko Haram conflict. Some 92% of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are being hosted by low-income host communities, bringing already stretched services and resources under increased pressure. The armed conflict has directly affected four states in the North East of Nigeria: Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe. The current humanitarian response covers all four states, with Borno State being the most affected and the epicentre of military operations and displacement of civilians. Thus, these areas have the largest number of young people affected by the war. These young people are either forcefully indoctrinated, killed, forced out of schools; kidnapped as sex slaves; their local businesses and farm lands destroyed; separated from their relatives (parents); orphaned or their thought line affected by trauma of wars and poverty. Furthermore, the young people in these Boko Haram conflict areas are faced with limited education opportunities, unemployment; unproductive jobs; HIV/AIDs crisis; the trauma of war; bad leadership and other forms of
violence. Though, some reports have shown that terrorists, Boko Haram inclusive, recruit young people via conscription, abduction or coercion, it is the lack of opportunities in their communities, poverty and illiteracy that most often lead young people into a life of violence and terrorism. As peace is gradually returning to some of these areas and government of Nigeria is planning on how to smoothly return IDPs to liberated areas, the role of young people is critical in sustaining the fragile peace and long-term stability. Designing projects and programmes for community protection and avoiding future conflict in these communities cannot be successful without involving young people. Young people in conflict zones cannot play their expected role without getting help and being involved in design and implementation of programmes and projects meant for them and their communities. Programmes and projects for young people in these conflict zones should be wellplanned and adequately funded and the young people should be given a sense of important stakeholders in such programmes and projects. These programmes and projects should be carefullydesigned in such a way that there is a strong synergy between affected states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe including Bauchi, Taraba and the federal government, while also involving donor agencies and NGOs in the areas of funding, monitoring and evaluation. The already existing humanitarian programmes and projects should be redesigned to give young people specific
roles. This will help in the development and reorientation of their minds. These young people essentially need reorienting because during conflicts, their nascent minds were exposed to various vices such as rape, kidnapping, torture, seclusion, trafficking and exploitation. Recreational activities and creation of community centres in the liberated areas for young minds to interact and discuss issues are very critical to reintegrating them into normal communal living. They can also discuss issues and events while well-trained counsellors assist them in overcoming the trauma of the conflict. Provision of basic services- healthcare, education, water supply, information on diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and basic agriculture extension services especially on gardening are specifically essential to young people in post-conflict zones in north-east Nigeria. Young people in the Boko Haram war ravaged zones are strategic figures in efforts to reconstruct, rehabilitate and resettle their communities. A well-planned programme for them will fast track the healing of the scars of war, help to restore basic infrastructure and local economies, and returning these communities to their pre-war or even better conditions. However, collaboration between all the tiers of government, aid from the international community and the involvement of NGOs both local and international are as well very important in planning for young people in the Boko Haram conflict zone. Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State