Govt promises every household insecticide nets

The Federal Government has reiterated its determination to ensure that every household is provided with long lasting insecticide nets under the National Malaria Control Programme.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports quoted the National Coordinator of the programme, Dr. Babajide Coker, who made the pledge in Abuja on Thursday during a media briefing as saying that all houses would be covered before the end of the year.

“The coverage will be achieved through mass distribution to enable every household to have access to the nets in each state of the federation,” he said.

Coker said the NMCP was being actively supported by the Roll Back Malaria partners, adding that 14 states had been covered in the distribution of the nets, while the remaining 22 states would be covered soon.

He said 38,976,174 insecticide nets would soon be distributed across the remaining states.

Coker said that NMCP was partnering with UNICEF to secure the collaboration of local mobile operators who would facilitate the campaign for the use of the nets through the messaging system.

He said NMCP had adopted the use of “Rapid SMS Technology” campaign in Kano, Anambra, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

The coordinator said the system was being used to track and coordinate the delivery of the nets and other commodities.

Coker said reliance on the use of Rapid SMS technology was in order to fast-track data management for the remaining 22 states.

He noted that health workers were facing a growing demand for timely and accurate health information, saying that health data management in the health facilities was paper based and time consuming.

Coker said the technology showed that it could promptly meet one of the public health system’s most fundamental requirements for reliable data to enhance the capacity of the managers at all levels.
Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011191355428