FG Appoints Ooni’s Wife As Malaria Elimination Advocate

• Kazeem Badmus

The Federal Ministry of Health through the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), on Friday, appointed the wife of Ooni of Ife, Olori Temitope Ogunwusi as the malaria elimination advocate for the Southwest region.

Speaking during the event held at Ooni’s palace, the team lead, Nigeria Malaria Elimination Programme, Mr Timothy Obot, said the Queen’s acceptance to serve as malaria elimination advocate for the South-West will be a great boost to the efforts of the government to reduce the malaria burden.

According to him, malaria is still a major public health challenge, adding that it accounted for over 200,000 global deaths that occur annually with Nigeria contributing to 25% of the global cases and 32% of global deaths.

Obot however, noted that efforts by governments and partners have brought considerable reductions in the burden and indices of the deadly disease over time, calling on both public and private sectors including philanthropists and the general public to support the drive towards its elimination.

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He said, “Your acceptance to serve as a malaria elimination advocate to the southwest is a great boost to the efforts of
the government to reduce the burden. Malaria is still a major public health
challenge. It is estimated that over 200,000 global deaths occur annually, and Nigeria
contributes 25% of the global cases and 32% of global deaths.

“Efforts by governments and partners have brought considerable reductions in burden and indices of malaria over time. For instance prevalence has reduced from 42% in 2010 to 22% in 2021.

“The WHO Global Technical Strategy (GTS) 2016-2030 targets a 95% reduction in mortality and incidence rates respectively by 2030. This is just 6 years away. Progress towards achieving this is being greatly hindered by a lot of factors including inadequate funding. Currently, both the public and private sectors including philanthropists and the general public are called upon to support the drive towards malaria elimination.”

In her acceptance speech, Olori Ogunwusi promised to go the extra mile in advocating for the elimination of malaria in the country.

“For this call to be beacon on me to serve humanity in the area of its reduction, with God on my side, I promise to go the extra mile to advocate for the reduction and if possible, eradicate malaria in our environment.

“However, I want us to know that it is a collective work and I want to urge everybody to key into this and I know together, we can achieve it. I appreciate the Federal Ministry of Health for this great opportunity to serve humanity,” she noted.

The Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Health, Dr Isiaka Adekunle, promised the state will work with malaria elimination advocates to achieve success.

Adekunle who was represented by the State Malaria Elimination Programme Officer, Dr Femi Oroge, said, “We are privileged and proud that the advocate from the Southwest is from Osun State. The state Ministry of Health will work very closely with our advocate to achieve success.”