Nigeria commits $300 million to eliminate malaria

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The Federal Government has committed to secure US$300 million from the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and African Development Bank to eliminate malaria in the country.

This is contained in a statement issued by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 just ended in London.

The government said in the statement that it would elevate malaria on the national priority list and finance its national malaria elimination strategy.

The statement said Nigeria also pledged an additional US$18.7 million to leverage US$37 million from the Global Fund to distribute 15 million mosquito nets and to support the local manufacture of essential malaria commodities.

It said that ALMA applauds the commitment by 53 Commonwealth leaders to halve malaria across the Commonwealth nations within the next five years.

It said the game-changing commitment followed the Malaria Summit, where leaders from malaria-affected countries, businesses, donors and Commonwealth leaders pledged to get ready to beat the scourge of malaria.

The statement said the commitment from the Commonwealth has the potential to prevent 350 million malaria cases and save 650,000 lives.