
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has pledged to scale up innovation and deploy tools to combat malaria in the State.
Governor Bello said this in a message to the flag-off of the 2023 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention held at the glass house government house in Lokoja the state capital
The governor, represented by his Deputy, Chief Edward Onoja, the Governor said his administration aims to ensure total eradication of malaria from the State
Edward Onoja noted that malaria remains the leading cause of mortality in Nigeria especially among children under five years and pregnant women, reaffirming Government’s commitment to tackle the scourge headlong.

He urged stakeholders and other relevant bodies to undertake advocacy and sensitization campaigns while appealing to parents to avail their children of the exercise to help reduce the disease in the State.
Earlier, the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Usman Zakari said the SMC for Kogi has since 2021 recorded appreciative success with support from the “Bello Care Initiative” and other partners.
He urged the beneficiary to make use of the opportunity by ensuring their wards partake in the exercise
In their separate remarks, SMC State Project Manager, Kenneth Maduka, WHO State Coordinator, Dr Markus Oluwadare, UNICEF representative, Dr Adeyeye Olumide, Executive Secretary, State Drug Management Agency, Mr Mahmoud Ozigi, and others all commended Kogi State’s 25 to 16 percent malaria reduction rate in the State by the Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS).
The exercise which will feature free house-to-house mass drug administration for malaria prevention across the State would be conducted by the Malaria Consortium in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health