Adamawa government, in partnership with the WHO inaugurated the 2022 Seasonal Malaria Chemo-prevention (SMC) campaign on Thursday in Yola targeting one million children.
Mr Sani Halidu, acting State Coordinator, WHO urged parents and guardians to avail their children, age three months to 59 months of the exercise to ensure a malaria-free society.
The SMC is the intermittent administration of full treatment courses of anti-malarial treatment combination during the malaria season to prevent illness and death.
In his remarks, Abdullahi Isa, Adamawa Commissioner for Health, said the campaign recorded noticeable success in the 2021.
Isa, represented by Mrs Celine Laori, Director, Public Health, urged stakeholders to put all hands on deck to ensure the smooth execution of the exercise to save lives of children.
In his remarks, the Lamido Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Aliyu-Mustapha, noted that malaria remained a major health challenge in the state and in the country at large.
Aliyu-Mustapha represented by Alhaji Ahmed Mustapha, District Head of Yola, called on parents to ensure that their children got the drugs for malaria prevention.
Mrs Aisha Mohammed, a mother of seven children, expressed delight at the SMC campaign.
According to her, her daughter was among the children who benefitted from the campaign in 2021 and she did not take ill throughout the year.
Aisah advised parents to ensure they availed their children of the prevention strategy. (NAN)