Malaria Responsible For Huge Maternal Deaths

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Dr. Emmanuel Otolorin, Country Director of Jhpiego, an NGO, said on Thursday that malaria was responsible for 11 percent of maternal deaths in Nigeria.

Otolorin also told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that about 20 percent of under-five deaths were as a result of malaria.

He said that there was the need for awareness creation in getting more pregnant women and children to access malaria commodities.

According to him, malaria kills more than HIV, leprosy, TB put together.

“Eleven percent of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth, die because of malaria. About 20 percent of children who die before the age of five die because of malaria, so malaria is a big problem. In fact, there are more deaths from malaria in Nigeria than deaths from HIV, leprosy, TB all put together.

“As you know, malaria is a major cause of maternal mortality, and newborn mortality globally and particularly in Africa and more specifically in Nigeria.

“And there are very simple interventions that have been identified by WHO and in the global bodies for controlling malaria in pregnancy, but the problem is that in this country, a very low percentage of pregnant women access such interventions.”

According to him, there should be strict adherence to twice dosage of malaria treatment for all pregnant women to reduce maternal mortality from malaria.

Otolorin said all pregnant women; whether they have malaria or not should do so, as most of them had the parasite in them already.

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“Every pregnant woman should take an anti-malaria drug at least twice in pregnancy, whether or not she has symptoms of malaria, because we know that when they don’t have symptoms of malaria, they have malaria parasite in their blood.

“And malaria parasite in their blood can cause anaemia in the mother and also damage the placenta and reduce the exchange of food and oxygen between the mother and the baby, so the babies are starved in pregnancy and sometimes they die.

“So, we assume that every pregnant woman has malaria parasite in their blood. They should take anti-malaria at least twice, one month apart after they have started feeling the baby moving. ”

The country director said that early recognition of persons who had clinical malaria was possible with the use of rapid diagnosis tests so as to prevent deaths from malaria.

He said that about 50 percent of persons being treated for malaria actually suffered from symptoms of fever, and that treatment should begin with artemisine combination therapy.

Otolorin also spoke on the importance of sanitation, stressing that breeding ground for malaria was in water-logged areas in the environment.

“Sanitation is key; because breeding ground for mosquitoes needs to be eradicated. Swampy areas, anywhere water can collect, especially during the raining seasons, collection of water in bottles, plastic bottles, pots and pans should be removed.

“Once you have stagnant water, the mosquitoes can lay their eggs there and they grow, and then you have mosquitoes coming out of breeding ground very close to our houses.

“So, you need to clear the surroundings; you need to make sure that you don’t have containers that harbour stagnant waters around. These are part of the environmental control for preventing malaria,” he added.

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