Lagos County Club tasks Nigerians on protection against malaria

The Lagos County Club has urged Nigerians to imbibe the habits of protecting themselves against malaria as they celebrate Christmas to avoid untimely deaths.

Its Swimming Section Chairman, Ayodeji Osikoya, said malaria can be prevented by preventing, the bite from mosquitoes the vector transmitting the plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria.

He noted this yesterday, at Swim Against Malaria 2024, organised by the Swimming Section of the Lagos County Club held at GRA Ikeja Lagos adding that various strategies can be employed to prevent mosquito bites.

He explained that malaria is a preventable and treatable illness, it is quite sad to see that a preventable illness like malaria can be responsible for the pain and deaths of hundreds of children, pregnant mothers, and individuals.

Osikoya noted the swim against malaria was a global event as the club is committed in ensuring the quality health of members is guaranteed as health is the greatest wealth as they celebrate Christmas and New Year.

Medical Doctor from Authorpedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos Dr. Olubunmi Apata, said to prevent malaria people need to keep their environment clean and void of stagnant water, dumps, and every breeding site of mosquitoes.

He said people should sleep under long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to avoid bites from mosquitoes. Use Indoor residual sprays and insecticides to clear off mosquitoes indoors.
In terms of signs and symptoms of malaria, he said sometimes it presents like other illnesses hence why it is highly, recommended to always get tested to confirm the presence of malaria before treatment.

He said: “Some of the common symptoms of malaria include, nausea, dizziness, headaches, vomiting, loss of appetite, fever, and lots more.

In severe cases of malaria, he noted that symptoms may include, extreme fatigue, convulsions, severe headache and much more.

However, to reduce the malaria burden in Nigeria, Apata said the government, private stakeholders and members of the general public have diverse roles to play.

He urged the government to improve its commitment to combating the disease by strengthening healthcare systems and increasing local investments in research for new drugs, vaccines and mosquito control methods to combat antimalarial resistance and vector resistance.

A member planning committee of the programme Dr. Laja Adesina, said Nigerians must understand that the fight against malaria is everybody’s business and not just that of the government.

“We must all come together to prevent malaria in our communities and we must also avoid self-medication by ensuring that we get tested before treatment. We must commit to completing our malaria medications even when after we feel better and mostly importantly commit to preventing malaria infection by sleeping under treated bed nets and keeping our environment void of breeding sites of mosquitoes. Nobody should die from a preventable and treatable disease like malaria.”

He said diagnosis and treatment of malaria through properly approved and designated channels could also help.

Adesina said the private sector involvement in the achievement of zero malaria involves funding and collaboration with the public sector.