Are you a media practitioner? You can do the following to end malaria (Part 3) Keep on the front burner of public discourse the effects of poor policy and legislative environment on malaria elimination activities in Nigeria. Disseminate information about the need for adequate budgetary allocation and timely release of funds to the health sector, especially for malaria elimination activities. Write and broadcast accurate news and features consistently on the need for improved government involvement in malaria elimination activities. Promote private sector involvement in malaria elimination as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Promote use of appropriate malaria interventions: prevention, diagnosis and treatment. #ZeroMalariaStartsWithMe

Are you a media practitioner? You can do the following to end malaria. Make malaria an important agenda for public discourse via the media. Include malaria issues in your programmes and scripts. Develop stories that address malaria related issues for the various media. Dedicate some air time/space to promote appropriate malaria messages as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Educate the public on the importance of sleeping inside the insecticide treated net (ITN) every night to protect themselves against mosquito bites. Provide communities with information on proper use of ITNs. #ZeroMalariaStartsWithMe

What can you do to end malaria? Mothers and all adults should keep their immediate environment clean and ensure there are no mosquito breeding sites around the home. All mothers and fathers should ensure that their family members sleep inside the mosquito net every night all year round to protect them from mosquito bites that spread malaria. Pregnant women should register for antenatal early to receive sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), the medicine that protects mother and unborn baby from malaria from 13 weeks, and monthly till the baby is born. All mothers and all adults should ensure that they and their family members get tested promptly and early for all fever cases to be sure it is malaria. Ensure that your family members use only Artemisinin-based combination therapy, (ACTs) as treatment for positive malaria cases and complete the full course of the ACTs. #ZeroMalariaStartsWithMe

Malaria is still of significant burden in Nigeria. The country accounts for up to a quarter of global burden, and nearly a quarter of malaria deaths occur in Nigeria with 9 – 10 persons dying of malaria or malaria related causes every hour. Progress has however been made in the control of malaria with prevalence going down from 42% in 2010 to 27% in 2015, and to 23% in 2018 and 22% in 2021 (MIS 2010, NDHS 2018 and MIS 2021). #ZeroMalariaStartsWithMe

Malaria is a disease that spreads from one person to another through the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water, empty cans, old tyres, broken bottles and any kind of container that can hold water. Malaria kills, especially children under 5 years of age and pregnant women. This means that young children, pregnant women and their unborn children are the most vulnerable. But malaria is preventable, treatable and curable. It can also be eliminated from our society! #ZeroMalariaStartsWithMe