Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has provided 85,492 children under 15 with seasonal malaria chemo-prevention (SMC) in five Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps of Borno state. Each year, there are spikes of malaria during the rainy season in IDP camps of Bama, Dikwa, Rann, Pulka and Ngala. The Doctors without Borders, attributed malaria to a combination of limited or non-functioning health infrastructure, inadequate preventive measures and obstacles in reaching healthcare providers.
MSF’s Borno field communication officer, Abdulkareem Yakubu, disclosed this Friday in Maiduguri, the state capital. He said the poor state of health facilities in camps and host communities; have created a situation where malaria-related deaths are all but inevitable. “The over decade long conflict between the Nigerian military and armed opposition groups have compounded the challenges people face in accessing healthcare,” he said, lamenting that there are vast swathes of population displaced, and millions of lives disrupted.
He said in Bama alone, MSF’s malaria response included SMC for about 12,054 children, over four rounds of treatment, and more than 1,000 inpatient admissions for the treatment of severe malaria. He said this year; MSF ran SMC and malaria treatment activities in the five affected IDP camps, as well as treatment for severe malaria and malaria with complications in Maiduguri metropolis. According to him, despite predictable spikes in malaria over 270,000 cases of uncomplicated malaria were recorded across the state in 2019. “The costs of the public health system present an additional barrier for many, who simply do not have the means to pay for medical treatment,” he further lamented.
When Yagana Bukar brought her daughter to MSF’s malaria treatment centre in Bama last November, she spoke about the challenges in obtaining healthcare for her family: “It’s not as if there are no other providers in Bama but MSF treats us without us paying anything,” said Yagana, a mother of five children. She said in other facilities, it is always paracetamol and a prescription to buy the mostly out-of-stock drugs in the drugstore and she don’t have the money.
