BY  CHIOMA OBINNA

No fewer than 4,420,200 Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) valed at over N4 billion are to be distributed to every household in Lagos as part of efforts to scale up the universal coverage of LLIN in the state.Each household is to get two nets.

Disclosing this in Lagos at a stakeholders’ meeting on LLIN Campaign, National Coordinator, National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Dr Babajide Coker said the nets are ready for onward distribution at all the Local Government Areas of the state.

A Director in the Ministry of Health, Mr Joel Akilah who represented the coordinator, said the LLIN campaign was aimed at delivering two LLINs per household in the country through house to house approach.

Coker who stressed the macro quantification carried out showed that a total of 62.9 million LLINs would be required to saturate all states in the country, using the same approach, observed the nets were procured with fund from Global Fund to fight Tuberculosis, AIDS, and Malaria (GFTAM).

Coker said the National Malaria Control Programme and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership agreed to pool the LLIN and re-strategise to rapidly scale up this intervention for effective malaria prevention and control in the country.

He said: “As part of the planning process, series of activities will be carried out including training, micro planning on logistics which includes transportation among others.” He further disclosed that efforts to rapidly scale up LLIN distribution in the country have yielded appreciable results and that a total of 28,946,655 LLINs were distributed to beneficiaries in 17 states between May 2009 and December 2010.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris represented by the Director, Disease Control in the Ministry, Dr Olufemi Taiwo, noted that the cosmopolitan nature of the state and its coastal areas encourages the availability of stagnant water responsible for the breeding of anopheles mosquito, adding that this is responsible for the stable pattern and continuous transmission of malaria.

“Government has adopted strategies such as prompt diagnosis and appropriate case management with arthemissinin combination therapy (ACTs) and integrated vector management such as LLINs, indoor residual spraying (IRS) environmental management among others,” he noted.