Dr Amina Bello, the wife of Niger governor, has called on residents of the state to adopt sleeping inside mosquito nets to protect them from malaria.
Bello made call on Wednesday in Minna shortly after being inaugurated as net ambassador for the 2022 Insecticide Treated Net (ITN) mass campaign by the state government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ITN mass campaign initiative of the Niger government was done in collaboration with National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), Society for Family Health (SFH), Catholic Relief Service and Chemonic
She noted that it was expidient to campaign for the adoption of the use of ITN to protect residents of the state from malaria that affects mostly children less than five years and pregnant women.
She promised to work with other stakeholders to ensure that children no longer die of malaria, and that no pregnant woman has miscarriage or give birth to low-birth-weight child due to malaria in the state.
“I appreciate the Federal Ministry of Health through the NMEP, Niger Ministry of Health and the Roll Back Malaria partners for choosing me as the Net Ambassador for Niger state.
“I appreciate the organisations for providing Insecticide Treated Nets free of charge to all households in Niger to protect us and our families from mosquito bites.” she said.
She, therefore, urged residents of the state to provide correct information to the mobilisers and distributors, as well as to register and collect their nets during the distribution period between Sept. 1 and Sept. 12.
She gave assurance to use different channels and resources to disseminate messages on the use of mosquito nets to ensure that families protect themselves from mosquito bites by sleeping inside their nets every night.
She also pledged to mobilise all the net advocates of the local government areas who will in turn mobilise the people at the grass roots so that the percentage of net utilisation in the state comes highest in the country.
Earlier, Mr Muhammad Makusidi, Commissioner for Health in Niger, said that more than 3.7 million ITN would be distributed to residents of the state without religious or tribal barriers.
Also, Mr Ernest Nwokolo, Project Director, Society for Family Health, lauded the efforts of the governor’s wife in providing qualitative healthcare services to women as well as providing enabling environment for partners.
Mr John Ocholi-Campaign Manager in Niger, said that the governor’s wife would help carry out ITN campaign, ensure that the governor sleeps inside the net during the flag off to demonstrate that the nets were safe.
He also said that the governor’s wife would help coordinate wives of council chairmen to serve as net advocates in their various councils.
