Sam Bangura, who represented the programme manager, for the National Malaria Control programme has disclosed in a World Malaria Day press conference that 28,000 treated bed nets have been distributed nationwide to under five children and pregnant women.
Speaking at the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA) building yesterday, Mr Bangura added that the theme for this year’s April 25 World Malaria Day is “Malaria a disease without borders”.
The representative pointed out that the theme was an indication that the disease was global and that it could be curable and preventable.
He noted that the disease had a devastating effect on children, and that to address this he said they were expecting another consignment of 32,000 bed nets to be distributed nationwide free of cost.
Mr Bangura echoed that one of their key interventions to combat the disease was to flood the market with millions of bed nets and to also give anti-malaria drugs to control the maternal and morbidity rates in the country.
The representative disclosed that they had lined up many activities with both their local and international partners for the commemoration of this year’s World Malaria Day.
The managing director of SLENA, Mohamed Samura who was the chairman of the occasion, said malaria was a disease that killed more than HIV/AIDS in sub Sahara Africa, adding that malaria posed a serious challenged in post conflict countries like Sierra Leone.