United States Government Flags-Off Insecticide Treated Bed Nets Distribution in Nasarawa State

The U.S.  Government through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) jointly implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) donated 1.6 million bed nets for distribution in Nasarawa State.

The bed nets, valued at $4.5 million will be distributed in all local government areas of the State. The U. S. Government also provided an additional $1 million for logistics, including transportation of the bed nets, community mobilization, and training of workers on how to distribute the bed nets. These nets and logistics support provided for their distribution are a gift from the American People to the People of Nasarawa State.

Every year, PMI supports two to three States in Nigeria with such campaigns — In 2017, PMI supported Kogi, Sokoto, and Adamawa. The aim is to increasing access to malaria related health services, scale up access to malaria prevention within every household – especially for the poor, – and for sound and sustainable investment that can bring about great economic returns.  Malaria is one of the leading killers of children and a leading cause of illness in Nigeria, particularly during the rainy season when mosquitoes multiply rapidly.

“Eliminating malaria in Nasarawa State and throughout Nigeria as a whole is possible if we all work together to achieve that” said Stephen Haykin, USAID/Nigeria Mission Director.

Since 2011, USAID and CDC have supported PMI with the procurement of over 31 million bed nets for distribution, and have reached more than 60 million people.

Since 2011, the U.S. Government has spent more than $420 million to control malaria in Nigeria.

Over 50 percent of U.S. Government funding for malaria goes into procuring and distributing insecticide treated bed nets, malaria diagnostic kits, and malaria medicines.  In addition, the U.S. Government supports advocacy and mobilization to encourage members of the community to sleep under the bed nets every night, and trains health workers to test for malaria before treatment.