The Federal Government on Monday in Kaduna raised fresh alarm over the debilitating impact of malaria on the nation�s population.
It said an estimated N800bn would be required for the treatment of about 110m Nigerians now known to be active patients of the disease.
The Minister of State for Health, Mr. Gabriel Aduku, disclosed this at the First Health Summit organised by the 19 northern states in conjunction with UNICEF.
Of the 19 governors in the region, only four attended the summit, with the theme, �Alarming Death Rates in Northern States: The Time for Change is Now,� held at the Arewa House, Kaduna.
Aduku expressed regrets that 80 per cent of the country�s population of 140m people was exposed to malaria annually.
He said, �As a country, Nigeria today, suffers the most severe human and economic losses from malaria. Although malaria has been reportedly adequately contained in some tropical countries and completely wiped out in others, studies indicate that malaria remains the number one killer disease in Nigeria.
�Malaria is responsible for high morbidity and mortality in Nigeria, accounting for 11 per cent of maternal mortality, 30 per cent of childhood mortality and 25 per cent of infant mortality in Nigeria .
�As a government, Nigeria loses N132bn ($3bn) annually to malaria with the cost arising from man-hour losses due to absenteeism from office, farms, markets, schools and factories as well as expenditure on subsidised drugs in government hospitals and grants for research and enlightenment campaigns.�
The minister however argued that the scourge of malaria could be eliminated from Nigeria through careful analysis of malaria control experiences in conjunction with detailed analysis of the environmental, epidemiological and socio-economic factors related to malaria.
Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, noted that the summit would offer the northern leaders the opportunity to effectively reappraise the various issues militating against effective health care delivery to the people of the region.
Aliyu noted that the summit was also aimed at eradicating the suffering and poverty that millions of the people hadbeen exposed to due to the acts of some past leaders in the region.
Nov132007