Etisalat Intensifies Fight Against Malaria

Nigeria’s most innovative telecommunications operator, Etisalat, has stepped up the fight against malaria with the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to residents of Owutu Community, in Ikorodu, Lagos State and Enuwa Square, Ile Ife in Osun State.

The exercises in commemoration of the 2016 World Mosquito Day, form part of an ongoing Pan-Nigeria crusade by the telecommunications giant against the scourge of malaria in the country.

Speaking during the presentation at Ile Ife, Oyetola Oduyemi, manager, corporate and Social Responsibility, Etisalat Nigeria, said the exercise was in keeping with the company’s passionate commitment to sustainable development.

“One of the key focal areas of our CSR intervention programme is health, and this initiative forms a part of it. We have a target to distribute tens of thousands of insecticide-treated nets across the nation in the fight against malaria. We have been to some communities in states like Kogi, Kaduna, Enugu and Rivers. We are taking it further to more communities in the South West,” she said.

While receiving the items on behalf of the Ile Ife Community, Mr. Idowu Salami, the Palace Secretary, expressed delight at the exercise just as he lauded the telecom firm for taking up the fight against malaria which claims millions of lives yearly especially in Sub-Saharan Africa due largely to environmental reasons.

His words, “the scourge of malaria is on the increase due to poor sanitation practices; this provides a breeding ground for the activities of mosquitos which leads to malaria. We are glad that Etisalat put this programme together. We are sure many of the people who have benefitted from this initiative can protect themselves from mosquito bites and malaria attacks”.

At Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area, Lagos, the insecticide-treated mosquito nets were received by Honourable Samson Umar, who noted that Nigeria has one of the highest number of malaria casualties worldwide despite the many gains in the prevention and treatment of the scourge.

According to the Nigerian National Malaria Strategic Plan 2014-2020, malaria is responsible for 60 percent of outpatient visits to health facilities, 30 percent of childhood deaths, 25 percent of deaths in children under one year, and 11 percent of maternal deaths.