By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate said the annual loss to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product from malaria exceeds $1.1bn.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammed Pate has revealed how Nigeria Loses More than $1.1bn of its Gross Domestic Product to malaria every year
Pate said this in Abuja at the inaugural meeting of the Advisory Body on Malaria Elimination in Nigeria.According to a statement by the Deputy Director of Information & Public Relations at the ministry, Alaba Balogun, on Tuesday, Pate was said to have described malaria as not just a health crisis, but an economic and developmental emergency that must be eliminated.
The minister said the launch of the advisory body was a bold and decisive step to confront and address the disease.
He said, “Malaria continues to exert an unacceptable toll on Nigeria. With 27 per cent of global malaria cases and 31 per cent of global malaria deaths, our country bears the heaviest burden of this disease. In 2022, over 180,000 Nigerian children under the age of five lost their lives to malaria – a tragedy we have the tools to prevent.
“This is not just a health crisis; it is an economic and developmental emergency. Malaria reduces productivity, increases out-of-pocket health expenditures and, compounds the challenges of poverty. The annual loss to Nigeria’s GDP from malaria exceeds $1.1bn, a stark reminder of the economic imperative of elimination.”
The minister said malaria elimination was a critical component of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative framework for transforming the health sector, in alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, affirmed the advisory body as a group of experts who will provide evidence based advisory to help the country to reduce its unacceptable malaria burden, and set up realistic paths to a malaria-free Nigeria.
“For us to succeed, the private sector, the international partners, the healthcare workers and, the communities we serve must be harnessed and coordinated,” Salako added.
