By Elijah Ugani: Health Correspondent
The wife of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River, Dr. Linda Ayade has said that the state is ready to beat malaria.
Dr. Ayade stated this while addressing residents of Ikot Offiong Ambai community in Akpabuyo local government area on Wednesday as part of activities to mark the 2018 World Malaria Day.
“I am happy to be here today to tell the world that Cross River State is ready to beat malaria. Malaria is an enemy we can conquer, that is why we are all gathered here today,” Ayade said.
Mrs. Ayade stressed the need for testing before treating any form of ailment. She posited that implementing prevention mechanisms was very key to achieving this goal.
Ayade who maintained that: “Malaria is responsible for 11 percent of maternal mortality rate in Nigeria,” noted that it was the reason why , “we are very aggressive in our fight against this enemy.”
Also, she said that: “There are over 445,000 malaria deaths yearly and Nigeria accounts for 207,000 cases,” and promised the establishment of more malaria clubs in secondary schools through her foundation, the Mediatrix Development Foundation.
The 20118 theme for the celebration is ‘Ready to Beat Malaria’ and the state says it has distributed no fewer than 2.5m long lasting insecticide treated nets, tested 1.5 million people as well as treated over 750,000 positive cases across the 196 political wards since 2015 and works toward improving on the 2016 statistics of 0.09% to 1% of malaria prevalence reduction annually.
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