Aiming to cudgel malaria to death in Africa

***Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko Malaria Campaign.

OPINION

TRACKING______Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko, an International lawyer and antartica explorer, is a man used to rising above the parapet to help his country pull the chestnut out of fire. For those who might have forgotten, he is the national hero who doggedly played the pivotal role in securing the payment of billions of dollars refunds back to Nigeria by the Paris Club of creditors. Refund of the excess payments by the powerful Western financial cartel substantially helped to steer Nigeria out of the precipice of recession.

Worried by the devastating effects of malaria scourge in Africa including the gory statistics of deaths and ruins, Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko has embarked on an audacious journey towards a malaria-free Nigeria and Africa in the foreseeable future. In the massive project, to be executed through the Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation, he plans to work with national and multilateral organizations to achieve results. He equally hopes to collaborate with governments, private organizations and civil society towards achieving his core objective of extending malaria intervention programmes beyond the threshold of control and palliatives to permanent eradication. Malaria being basically an African challenge today, Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko believes Africans ought to be on the driving seat in the quest for permanent solution to the age-long scourge.

Presently, only six countries out of 54 that make up the African continent are recognized by the World Health Organization [WHO] as malaria-free while the remaining 47 are endemic countries. The malaria-free countries are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Seychelles, Lesotho and Libya.

Four African countries currently account for nearly half of all malaria cases worldwide as at 2017. They are Nigeria (25%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), Mozambique (5%) and Uganda (4%). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 200 million cases of malaria infection worldwide annually. Nearly 600,000 deaths result from the cases yearly with 90 percent of the deaths occurring in Africa. The WHO reports show that children are the most vulnerable group affected by malaria. For centuries, apart from malaria, mosquitoes have been the vector of several other ailments ravaging Africa such as Yellow fever, Dengue fever, Filariasis and Zika.

As a philanthropist committed to rendering support and services to the needy, the society and humanity at large, Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko sees the subsisting malaria statistics where Africa bears 90% of the overall global malaria burden as no longer acceptable. In the course of his various interventions, Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko through his Foundation discovered that malaria scourge constitutes one of the greatest impediments to the healthy life and development of Africans and their societies.

The former member of House of Representatives maintains that most health challenges suffered by Africans including deaths, organ damage and other physical and mental impairments are directly or indirectly traceable to malaria. Some of the health complications and deaths are as a result of side effects of anti-malaria drug medications.

Also he believes, malaria causes huge economic loss by draining considerable funds that could have been used to support growth and general societal development. Equally, malaria does not only cause loss of life but also interferes with athleticism, socio-economical activities and general way of life of the people over sustained period.

Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko’s inclination to empathize and assist made him and his wife, Regina Daniels Nwoko to embark on the mosquito elimination and malaria eradication programme in Nigeria and Africa. Ned Nwoko has set short and long term objectives for the Ned Nwoko Foundation in this project.

Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko’s short-term delivery plan is national mobilization for the fumigation of Nigeria and other African countries. He plans to push for legislation at the National Assembly, Abuja for a National Fumigation Day or week in Nigeria. He will encourage the same measure in other African countries. To achieve sustainable success, community members will be made stakeholders of their environments in the mosquito elimination campaign. Community town hall meetings shall be held to appoint Sanitation Ambassadors and Officers.

Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko’s long-term strategy towards delivering the project has invested over $100m on research of anti malaria vaccine with team of scientists and researchers.

The Foundation plans to establish Academic Research Grants [ARGs] for Malaria Vaccine in five universities spread across the African continent. The grants shall be available to be accessed by selected scientific scholars in Africa. There shall be a proper selection process and body of judges for the most qualified scholars and researchers to access the grants.

This year, January 2020, Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko and his amiable wife, Regina Daniels Nwoko has kick-start the malaria eradication in Africa campaign with a symbolic expedition to mosquito-free Antarctica located at the South Pole. They made an 8-day trip to the Antarctica with some scientists. He is first African to explore the coldest and the most inhospitable part of the world South Pole antartica.

Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko, whose foundation interventions majorly in health, environment, education, sports, culture and tourism, rightly believes that eliminating mosquitoes and eradicating malaria in Africa require a fundamentally different approach when compared to controlling malaria.

To find a permanent solution to the malaria scourge through Africa attaining malaria-free status, concerted efforts of the civil society and governments in combating Malaria in Africa are imperative. The various interventions already in place such as the Roll Back Malaria programme and provision of treated mosquito nets which have indeed helped a great deal to curb the scourge are commendable but inadequate to end the pandemic. It is gratifying that a public-spirited wealthy African in the person of Dr. Prince Ned Nwoko has stepped forward with a vow to work together with relevant stakeholders to deal a final blow on malaria disease to pave way for a healthier and more prosperous Africa.