Health
Plateau State Govt Moves to Sustain Malaria Control Gains with 2026 SMC Campaign
The Plateau State Government has officially flagged off the 2026 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaign as part of efforts to protect children from malaria and further reduce the disease burden across the state.
The flag-off ceremony, held at the Crispan Event Center in Jos, brought together government officials, health practitioners, development partners, and other stakeholders committed to improving child health and malaria prevention.
The campaign is aimed at providing life-saving preventive malaria medication to eligible children during the peak malaria transmission season.
Speaking at the event, the Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nicholas Ba’amlong, commended the First Lady of Plateau State, Barr. Helen Mutfwang, for her commitment to the programme as the 2026 SMC Ambassador.
He noted that her support and advocacy had contributed significantly to efforts aimed at protecting children from malaria across the state.
Dr. Ba’amlong also praised the State Malaria Elimination Programme, Malaria Consortium, development partners, and frontline health workers for their roles in implementing seasonal malaria prevention initiatives that have helped reduce malaria cases in Plateau State.
The Commissioner further appreciated Governor Caleb Mutfwang for prioritizing the health sector and providing strong support for healthcare programmes in the state.
He called on all stakeholders, including community leaders and wives of local government chairmen, to support the campaign to ensure its success.
During the event, the First Lady of Plateau State, Barr. Helen Mutfwang, was officially crowned the 2026 Ambassador of the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention campaign in recognition of her advocacy and commitment to the health and well-being of women and children.
Addressing participants, Barr. Mutfwang described the flag-off of the SMC campaign as another major step towards protecting children from malaria and improving public health across Plateau State.
She expressed delight over the progress recorded in malaria control, revealing that malaria prevalence in the state had dropped from 18.8 percent in 2021 to 2.8 percent in 2025 through the combined efforts of government, healthcare workers, communities, and development partners.
“This achievement demonstrates that with strong leadership, effective partnerships, and community participation, malaria can be defeated,” she said.
The First Lady urged parents and caregivers to ensure that eligible children receive the free SMC medicines during every cycle of the campaign.
She also commended Governor Caleb Mutfwang, Malaria Consortium, healthcare workers, and community volunteers for their contributions to the fight against malaria before officially flagging off the campaign.
Speaking during the event, Nurse Ndak Kizito Zuhumnan, Program Manager of the Plateau State Malaria Elimination Program, explained that the exercise was designed to mobilize stakeholders and communities to protect children from malaria during the peak transmission season.
He disclosed that community drug distributors, health workers, and supervisors would commence house-to-house visits from June to October to administer preventive malaria medicines to children aged three to 59 months across the state.
“The aim of this medication is to prevent children from coming down with malaria. We want to reach over one million children, and we urge parents and guardians to make every eligible child available for this free and safe intervention,” he stated.
Zuhumnan noted that Plateau State had recorded remarkable success in malaria control, attributing the achievement largely to the SMC programme and sustained collaboration among government agencies, health workers, development partners, the media, and community leaders.
In a goodwill message delivered on behalf of the West and Central Africa Programme Director of Malaria Consortium, Dr. Maxwell Kolawole, Dr. Mbwas Mashor commended the Plateau State Government and its partners for their commitment to malaria control efforts.
He stated that despite Nigeria’s high malaria burden, Plateau State had achieved significant progress in reducing malaria prevalence through sustained interventions and effective partnerships.
Dr. Mashor disclosed that the 2026 SMC campaign would target over one million eligible children across the state.
He reaffirmed Malaria Consortium’s continued support for malaria elimination efforts and called for stronger government ownership, sustained funding, and continued collaboration to sustain the gains already achieved.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Association of Primary Healthcare, Chundung Maina, commended Plateau State for its commitment to strengthening the health system through data-driven planning and implementation.
She noted that the progress recorded in the state reflected stronger political will, improved investment, and effective use of evidence in public health decision-making.
According to her, Plateau State is increasingly gaining national recognition as a model for health sector improvement, adding that sustained commitment and adequate financing remain critical to consolidating and expanding the gains already achieved in the health sector.
The federal government has announced plans to strengthen Nigeria’s emergency healthcare system by expanding the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS) and developing a digital emergency dispatch platform to improve responses to critical illnesses.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, disclosed this on Thursday while declaring open the 11th Annual Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Intensive and Critical Care Society of Nigeria (I-CCSN) in Abuja.
The conference, themed “Sustainable Financing for Intensive Care in Public Hospitals in Nigeria,” focused on improving access to critical care and addressing financing challenges in the country’s health sector.
Mr Salako said NEMSAS, which began as a pilot project in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has now expanded to 34 states, bringing Nigeria closer to nationwide emergency medical coverage.
He also announced that the government is developing a digital emergency dispatch platform that will connect emergency callers, ambulance services and treatment centres through a single system.
According to him, the platform will facilitate real-time emergency response, patient tracking, referrals and claims management.
Strengthening emergency care
Mr Salako said improving critical care requires more than equipping intensive care units (ICUs), stressing the need for an integrated emergency care system.
He said such a system should link ambulance services, high-dependency units, medical oxygen systems, diagnostic services, health insurance, trained health workers, and rehabilitation services to provide timely, life-saving care.
“Critical illness does not discriminate. No Nigerian family should be forced to choose between financial ruin and access to life-saving healthcare,” he said.
The minister said the government is also expanding access to medical oxygen by installing Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants in health facilities across the country to ensure a reliable supply of the life-saving commodity.
READ ALSO: Weaponisation of healthcare could intimidate doctors, worsen brain drain — El-Rufai’s wife
Workforce and financing
Mr Salako said sustainable financing remains essential to improving critical care services in public hospitals.
He called for greater investment in specialist education, fellowship programmes and continuous professional development for physicians, critical care nurses, biomedical engineers and other healthcare professionals involved in emergency and intensive care.
He also urged stronger collaboration among the federal government, state governments, healthcare institutions, professional associations, development partners, and the private sector to translate conference discussions into evidence-based policies that improve financing and expand equitable access to quality intensive care services across Nigeria.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has reported progress in efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but warned that rising infections continue to outpace the response.
The Head of the Continental Incident Management Support Team for the Ebola response, Wessam Mankoula, disclosed this on Thursday during a webinar on the outbreak.
Mr. Mankoula stated that the continental Incident Management Support Team is now operational in Uganda, coordinating the Ebola response with support from partners across Africa.
He noted that the DRC and Uganda have also made progress in implementing a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening cross-border Ebola surveillance and response.
According to him, laboratory capacity has improved significantly, with health authorities now able to conduct more than 2,000 Ebola tests daily across affected areas.
He added that clinical trials evaluating Ebola therapeutics have commenced, marking another milestone in efforts to improve treatment outcomes.
Response under pressure
Despite these gains, Mr. Mankoula said confirmed Ebola cases increased by 25 percent over the past week, raising concerns about sustained transmission.
He said Ebola treatment centres remain under severe pressure, with bed occupancy reaching 95 percent across affected facilities.
Contact tracing also remains inadequate, with only seven contacts identified for every confirmed case—well below the recommended target—while infections among frontline health workers continue to pose a major challenge.
Uganda’s progress
Mr. Mankoula described Uganda’s response as encouraging, stating that the country had demonstrated that Ebola could be contained through strong surveillance and rapid action.
He said Uganda has recorded 20 Ebola cases, most linked to imported infections, but authorities quickly contained transmission.
According to him, the country currently has only one patient receiving treatment after recording two deaths and 17 recoveries.
He added that Uganda had achieved complete contact tracing for all identified contacts, helping to interrupt further transmission.
He stated that the country’s experience demonstrates that early detection, prompt isolation, and effective contact tracing remain critical to controlling Ebola outbreaks.
Situation in DR Congo
In contrast, Mr. Mankoula said the DRC had recorded 1,759 confirmed Ebola cases as of 7 July, including 353 new infections reported within one week.
He said the outbreak has claimed 600 lives, representing a case fatality rate of about 34 percent.
Among healthcare workers, 112 infections have been recorded, while 35 frontline workers have died during the response.
Mr. Mankoula described the current epidemic as the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak recorded during its first six weeks.
He said the virus continues to spread faster than response efforts, with the effective reproduction number estimated at 1.4.
“This means the outbreak is still progressing. Currently, the estimated reproduction number is 1.4, meaning every 10 infected individuals are expected to transmit the virus to approximately 14 others,” he said.
The outbreak has affected 37 health zones in the DRC, with 94 percent of confirmed cases reported in Ituri Province.
Mr. Mankoula noted that six affected health zones had not reported any confirmed cases in the past 21 days, suggesting progress in some locations.
He added that most infections have occurred among people aged between 15 and 44 years, with women accounting for 53 percent of confirmed cases.
However, he said insecurity in North Kivu continues to hamper response activities, contributing to high fatality rates and limiting access for emergency response teams.
Mr. Mankoula called for a 50 percent increase in treatment bed capacity, faster case detection, stronger community engagement, and sustained funding to strengthen the Ebola response.
He also announced the deployment of additional experts and 4,000 community health workers, while Uganda and the DRC continue implementing joint border surveillance under their bilateral agreement.
READ ALSO: DRC Ebola cases rise to 1,274, 96 health workers infected Africa CDC
Ebola virus
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe and often fatal illness caused by infection with the Ebola virus. It spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials and can cause symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.
The current outbreak in the DRC and Uganda is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. Unlike the more common Zaire strain, which caused the 2014 West African epidemic, there is currently no approved vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, making containment efforts more challenging.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that although Nigeria has not recorded any confirmed Ebola case, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has classified the risk of importing the virus as high because of increased travel and trade with affected countries. The agency has also intensified surveillance at the country’s entry points, activated emergency preparedness measures, strengthened laboratory capacity, and directed states and healthcare facilities to heighten surveillance and rapidly report suspected cases.
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