The Federal Government has revealed that not fewer than 145 million Long Lasting Insecticidal nets (LLINs) have been distributed in 33 States over the past 6 years.
It noted that although the country could not achieve the pre-elimination that it set out to achieve, marked reductions have been recorded in the malaria prevalence from 42 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2015 and 23 percent in 2018, based on the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) results of 2018.
The National Coordinator of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), Dr. Audu Mohammed, who made this known in Abuja, while doing a brief review on the extent of implementation of the Malaria Strategic Plan 2014 – 2020, which is due to expire by the end of the year, noted that 130.42 million nets were distributed in mass replacement campaigns and over 16.3 million LLINs distributed through the routine system.
Audu observed that there have been increases in the utilisation of the nets by the most vulnerable population groups.
He said that the percentage of pregnant women who slept under ITN increased from 17 percent in 2013 to 49 percent in 2015 and rose to 58 percent in 2018, while the percentage of children under the age of five who slept under ITN increased from 16 percent in 2013 to 44 percent in 2015 and 52 percent in 2018.
