The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Abuja, recently launched an awareness campaign on the overuse and misuse of antimalaria drugs in communities as the rest of the world commemorates World Malaria Day. Ifeanyi Ikebudu, Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria in Abuja, urged Nigerians to take preventative measures against malaria by avoiding stagnant water.
The World Health Organization designated April 25 as a day to raise public awareness about the effects of malaria and how to prevent it in order to reduce the disease’s economic and medical burden. It is also a day to talk about the misuse of Antimalaria Drugs.
“As a professional, we wanted to come to the grassroots to screen for malaria before care, so we’ve carried out some measures, including free malaria testing and free malaria control.” They said.
Sensitization began before the d-day by the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Association. It is our responsibility as youths to return home and demonstrate how malaria can be eradicated to our families,” Lawal Audu, a Youth Community Leader, told Africanews correspondent Michael Dibbie in Abuja.
When reported cases of malaria are not confirmed with a test, it can result in a misuse of antimalaria drugs and overtreatment based on clinical diagnosis. Patients would not benefit from ACT misuse because of bad care results, excess of drugs, and financial loss from out-of-pocket payments for unneeded medicines if PPMVs do not test before selling malaria medicines.
