The company, in a statement signed by its chairman, Akinjide Adeosun, in Lagos, described the proposal as an urgent step the incoming administration could embrace to address the disease’s huge burden in the country.
Citing World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, Adeosun said malaria, being the most prevalent ailment in Nigeria, deserves priority attention by the Tinubu government, exploring opportunities offered by the planned subsidy palliative programme.
According to the 2021 World Malaria Report, Nigeria has the highest number (27 per cent) of infections and deaths, put at 32 per cent.
The country is also reported to account for 55.2 per cent of cases in West Africa.
He lamented that responses have not recorded remarkable progress following lack of political will to enthrone a malaria-free country.
Adeosun recalled the unachieved goal of reducing morbidity to less than 10 per cent parasite prevalence and mortality of less than 50 deaths per 1, 000 as enunciated in the 2021-2025 National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP).
His words: “While we are supporting cash distribution to indigent Nigerians, initiating a free programme that would offer free malaria management to everyone in all parts of the country would not only impact positively on the people’s health, but will also drastically reduce unnecessary deaths being recorded every year from the disease, thereby improving life expectancy in Nigeria.
“As a corporate entity with a mandate of promoting good health in Nigeria and the African continent through information, education, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and supply of quality pharmaceutical brands, we, at St. Racheal’s Pharma, are in resonance with the call by WHO on countries to build more resilient programmes to address the menace of malaria.”
Adeosun said considering Nigeria’s huge burden of the disease, the theme for this year’s World Malaria Day, ‘Time to deliver zero malaria, invest, innovate, implement’, was apt.
“This is why we urge the new government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to act swiftly and adopt a more radical approach by instituting and implementing a compulsory free malaria management initiative, to achieve the nation’s strategic plan,” he urged.
