Health Care in Nigeria- The Malaria Burden.

Healthcare in Nigeria- The malaria burden

by

Dr Jide Obosi,a five minutes presentation at The Summer Institute, Blomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA. June 2007.

Healthcare in Nigeria- the malaria Burden

Where is this country, called Nigeria? Located in the heart of Africa at the eastern boarder of West Africa. Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world She is the giant of Africa with a population of over 146 million people, which is about half the population of the United States of America.

Her people are lovely and friendly; they love soccer (we call it football) and are endowed with rich culture.

After her independence in 1960, there was so much hope and determination, this translated to hard work and rapid development. But due to long period of military dictatorship, corruption and nepotism reigned supreme and democracy was raped in broad day light. This culminated to tribalism, (in a country with over 250 ethnic nationalities), greed and avarice, lack of credible leaders and policy makers, and then chaos and medical mayhem.

Presently, the healthcare delivery system rest on government hospitals which has deteriorated due to lack of government investment, strikes by public service workers. Also contributing to the health care delivery system are the private hospitals and clinics. These centres are very expensive; therefore, cannot serve the general population who eventually resort to the use of herbalists or voodoo doctors for medical treatment.

What do we get?

Malaria and other health maladies like,
Water borne diseases which include traveller diarrhoea, typhoid fever, cholera, others are, worms, HIV,tuberculosis, snake bites, flu, the list is endless.

Malaria a major headache.
Malaria is caused by protozoa which is transmitted to man through the bite of mosquitoes. This means that it is associated with poverty due to filth, stagnant water and untidy environments. Malaria has both perceived risk and real risk. Perceived risk due to beliefs and poor diagnosis with attendant drug resistance in endemic areas.
But the real risk is the high mortality rate it causes in the world not just Nigeria or Africa.
For more than 50years, the idea of one million deaths due to malaria has been on the lips of everybody especially cited by scientists and journalists. Unfortunately, it has gradually increased to 2.7 million deaths annually. In Africa, 75% of these are children. According to the American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, over 85% of the malaria induced deaths are due to anaemia, low birth weight and malnutrition.

Having identified this monster, how do we prevent or reduce this figure in Nigeria?

Ladies and gentlemen, the time to act is now, as public health professionals, our attention should be turned to the third world especially Africa so that grants can be made available in curbing this disease called malaria. These grants can be ploughed into,
-awareness campaigns in malaria prevention as it is being done for HIV
-Provision of malaria prevention and treatment medications
- Provision of Laboratory equipment for early and proper diagnosis.
-Education on clean environment
- Good clothing for children
-Provision of mosquito repellents

Governments should be properly advised to increase funding for the health sector of the economy.

Finally, democracy should be sustained and supported by developed nations, this will invariably produce good leadership and policies which will translate into good health for the people of Nigeria and Africa.

Thank you.