Published: 16 August 2022

The African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) congratulates the Federal Republic of Nigeria for becoming the sixth African Union Member State to launch an End Malaria Council. Launched by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari in the presence of senior government, private sector, and civil society leaders at the Presidential Pavilion in Abuja today, the Nigeria End Malaria Council will support the fight against malaria in the country.

“I am pleased that we are inaugurating the Nigeria End Malaria Council. Malaria, as we all know, is an age-long disease and remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria,” H.E. President Buhari acknowledged in his opening remarks. “Our inauguration today will therefore ensure that malaria elimination remains a priority on our agenda with strong political will from leaders at all levels. Additionally, the End Malaria Council will provide a platform to advocate for more funding to protect and sustain progress made so far by the country and put us on a pathway to ending malaria for good.”

Outlining his reasons for establishing the Nigeria End Malaria Council, His Excellency President Buhari acknowledged that the Federal Republic accounts for twenty-seven percent of global malaria cases and thirty-two percent of global malaria deaths. According to the World Health Organisation, Nigeria has an annual estimated prevalence of 64,677,959 million malaria cases and 199,689 thousand deaths. Eighty percent of these deaths are children under the age of 5 and pregnant women. This burden is felt across the health sector where malaria cases account for about sixty percent of outpatient visits and thirty percent of hospital admissions in Nigeria.

Congratulating Nigeria at the launch, ALMA’s Special Ambassador, Prof. Sheila Tlou noted that significant progress has been made in the fight against malaria across the continent with Nigeria alone avoiding 228 million malaria cases and saving 2.6 million lives since 2000. As a result, 1 out of 79 Nigerians is alive today because of this progress. Calling for further vigilance to end malaria once and for all, she noted that success demands, “strong, unified, multi-sectoral and African solutions.”

Insufficient resources remain an important limiting factor in achieving the Federal Republic’s goal of eliminating malaria cases and deaths. Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Honourable Minister of Health noted that the funding gap substantially impacted the National Malaria response over the years and the current 2020-2025 strategic plan is already showing signs of the resource gap of about fifty percent.

As H.E. President Buhari noted, “the successful implementation of the council agenda will result in an improvement in the quality of life, health and well-being of Nigerians by providing an impetus for malaria elimination and by saving about 687 billion Naira nationally, which is the estimated economic burden of malaria for 2022. The savings could increase to 2 trillion Naira in 2030. A concerted strategy to tackle malaria therefore has both public health as well as social and economic benefits for malaria.”

The Nigeria End Malaria Council is a public-private-community partnership that will work to close the resource gap and remove other barriers affecting the National Malaria Elimination Programme. The founding members of the Council are senior leaders drawn from government, the private sector, and civil society. Mr. Aliko Dangote, global business leader and malaria advocate, will serve as the Council’s Chairman. Public sector members include the Honourable Minister of Health and Honourable Minister of State for Heath, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, the Chair of the House Committee on AIDS, TB and Malaria, the Chair of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and the Permanent Secretary of Health. Several private sector executives will serve on the Council, including Mr. Tony Elumelu (Chairman, UBA), Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija (CEO, Sharon Group), Mr. Herbert Wigwe (CEO, Access Bank), and Mr. Femi Otedola (CEO, Forte Oil). Religious and community leaders include Hajiya Lami Amadu Lau (President, NCWS), His Eminence John Cardinal Olounfemi Onaiyekun (Archbishop, Abuja Archdiocese), and Alhaja Rafiyat Idowu Sanni (National Amira, FOMWAN).

The members of the Nigeria End Malaria Council will work collaboratively to mobilise advocacy to sustain malaria high on the national agenda, action to support the implementation of the national malaria strategy, resources to close the funding gap, and accountability to ensure the country achieves its objective of eliminating malaria.

Aliko Dangote, the Chairman of the Nigeria End Malaria Council, committed that, “the council will drive towards malaria elimination by focusing on two key issues: ensure that malaria elimination remains high on Nigeria’s agenda with strong political commitment from leaders at all levels and, second, advocate at all levels to ensure sufficient funding to protect progress that has been made so far and be an irreversible pathway to ending malaria for good.”

The establishment of the Nigeria End Malaria Council follows the example of other countries across the African Region that have established national End Malaria Councils and Funds over the past several years. These include Zambia, Eswatini, Mozambique, Kenya, and Uganda whose strategic multisectoral partnerships have mobilised more than $23 million dollars in commitments to support national malaria programmes. Further, they have launched multi-media campaigns to sustain the visibility of malaria, rallied coalitions of religious and traditional leaders and parliamentarians to drive advocacy and procured life-saving medicines and provided critical supply chain support. In June, these established malaria councils made a mark at the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, committing to mobilise $100 million USD to support their national malaria programmes. Thanking Nigeria for its shared commitment in ending malaria in Africa and globally, Ambassador Sheila noted that, existing EMCs look forward to working together with Nigeria to ensure the success of its End Malaria Council.