06 March 2013, Yenagoa – Chevron Nigeria Limited has launched the Roll Back Malaria, RBM, to curtail malaria scourge in Koluoma and Sagana communities in Bayelsa.
Chevron’s General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Mr Deji Haastrup, made this known in Yenagoa on Tuesday.
Haastrup, who spoke at the launch of the initiative, said that it was aimed at curtailing malaria in its host communities.
Represented by Mr Kunle Okegbemiro of the Community Relations and National Project, Chevron, Haastrup said that Nigeria had high malaria prevalence rate.
He said that though the disease was expensive to cure, it is preventable and could be treated and eradicated.
“The RBM programme we are launching today will begin with the conduct of a baseline survey on the spread of malaria disease, enlightenment programme in Brass and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas and training of health workers,” he said.
Haastrup said that the NNPC/Chevron Joint Venture would distribute 4,000 doses of Artemisinim Combination Therapy, ACTs, to treat malaria in children under five years.
He said that 8,000 doses of Sulphadoxine Therapy to prevent malaria in pregnant women in Brass and Southern Ijaw localities and 8,000 mosquito treated nets would also be distributed.
Earlier, the state Commissioner of Health, Dr Anapurere Awoli, described Bayelsa as `the most malaria prevalent state’, adding that the disease had caused problems in the society.
