By Editor
The Ekiti State Government has urged residents to eliminate mosquito breeding sites in their surroundings as part of efforts to prevent malaria and promote a healthier society.
The Project Manager of the Immunization Plus and Malaria Progress Accelerated Coverage for Transformation (IMPACT) Project, Dr Folu Ekundare, made the call in Ado-Ekiti while featuring on Ekiti Loni/Ekiti Today, a simulcast radio programme.
Ekundare said the state government, under the Malaria Larval Source Management Intervention, being implemented with the support of the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), would commence a five-month larviciding exercise in August across Ikere and Ilejemeje Local Government Areas.
He said the exercise was aimed at destroying mosquito larvae before they developed into adult mosquitoes capable of transmitting malaria.
According to him, trained officials wearing malaria-branded identification will carry out the intervention involving the spraying of designated locations that have been mapped in the two local government areas.
The project manager appealed to residents of the benefiting communities to cooperate fully with the officials, describing the intervention as a critical strategy for reducing the malaria burden in the state.
Ekundare also urged residents across the state to maintain good environmental sanitation by clearing clogged gutters and drains, eliminating stagnant water around homes and in containers such as buckets, cans and discarded tyres.
He said residents should also fill potholes, clear overgrown bushes and ensure that rain barrels, wells and septic tanks were properly covered.
He noted that the preventive measures would complement the larviciding exercise and significantly reduce mosquito breeding and malaria transmission.
Ekundare said the IMPACT Project currently supported more than 205 health facilities across the state, where residents had access to free malaria testing, treatment and medication.
He added that the project had, over the past four years, contributed to reducing malaria prevalence in Ekiti from 21 per cent to 14.5 per cent.
Expressing optimism about the impact of the intervention, Ekundare said sustained implementation of the larviciding exercise, improved environmental sanitation and active community participation would help reduce malaria prevalence in the state to single digits before the end of the year.
