Falana made the call on the sidelines of the 6th Nigeria Movement of Solidarity with Cuba Meeting in Abuja.

Our correspondent reports that there have been solidarity by African countries, against the United States blockade of Cuba and for the Cuban people’s right to self-determination and sovereignty.

Falana said Nigeria ought to draw lessons from Cuba as it had abolished malaria since 1967, eliminating the death burden of the scourge.

“The greatest killer of people apart from poverty is malaria, while the western countries insist that we must buy mosquito nets, today we must decide, that we are going to ask Cuba to come to Africa to eliminate malaria, not control malaria.

“Since 1967, when Cuba abolished malaria, nobody has died of malaria in that country.

“However, in a tropical country like our own, in fact, if you travel to Cuba today and you are found to be having malaria, you will be quarantined and treated like Ebola.

“Every ward in Cuba like our own, has a clinic, why we go to other countries to die, because our own health facilities have collapsed.

“Cuba is ahead of the west in many areas of medicine, including cancer, can you believe that America in spite of the blockade is currently collaborating with Cuba to put an end to the danger that cancer has constituted to the entire world,” he siad.

He noted that during the Ebola crisis, Cuba singlehandedly sent a plane of 400 doctors and other medical personnel to Nigeria, saying the gesture was a rare act which should not be forgotten.

“Cuba has displayed internationalism more than any country on earth, while imperialist nations go around the world, killing people in their thousands, Cuba goes around saving lives by sending medical doctors.

“It’s not enough to praise and thank Cuba, we must learn to draw lessons from Cuba, lessons of dignity, self reliance and self determination to run Africa in the interest of African people.

“That is the greatest lesson this small country of 11.3 million people have showed the world that it is not how many you are that matters.

“It is not your oil gas or gold that matters. Cuba has only sugarcane and tobacco, yet, that is one of the greatest countries on earth,” Falana said.

It was reported that the Nigeria Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, comprises labour organisations such as the Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, and coalition of other popular groups and women organisations.

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Alhaji Abdulaziz Mashi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, said in Jalingo on Friday that the exercise would be executed in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

Mashi said at the flag-off of the distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) that it was part of government’s efforts at tackling the scourge of malaria in the country.

He said that the LLINs replacement campaign, funded by Global Fund, would be carried out in Taraba, Yobe, Delta, Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa States.

“The campaign across the six states is aimed at delivering over 25 million LLINs to beneficiaries in the country, with support from Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).

“Today’s flag off signifies the commencement of the series of activities that will lead to the distribution of over two million nets to all communities in the 16 LGAs in Taraba state,’’ he explained.

Mashi added that the federal government had adopted the LLINs replacement campaign as one of the strategies for the prevention and elimination of malaria in the country.

He said that Nigeria had continued to witness appreciable progress in malaria control and elimination efforts.

“Studies from the 2015 Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) have shown that 69 per cent of households in Nigeria have, at least, one insecticidal net.

“Despite this, malaria, though preventable, still remains a major public health problem in Nigeria and constitutes a major barrier to socio-economic development,” he noted.

The permanent secretary called on the Taraba state government to take ownership of the campaign to ensure its sustainability.

He also charged traditional rulers and religious leaders in the state to support, not just the campaign, but also, net hanging activities in their various communities.

It was reported that the event was graced by government officials, malaria partners, traditional rulers and other critical stakeholders in the malaria elimination programme.

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The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, disclosed this on Saturday at the inauguration of the LLINs replacement campaign in Dutse.

Adewole listed the benefitting states as Ogun, Jigawa, Gombe and Katsina.

The minister was represented by the Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kudu, Jigawa, Prof. Idris Suleiman.

He explained that the nets would be distributed with the support of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).

The minister said that 3.7 million nets would be distributed to all communities in the 27 local government areas of in Jigawa.

“It gives me great pleasure to be present at this important ceremony to flag off the replacement campaign for the distribution of LLINs in Jigawa.

“This year alone, approximately 14.4 million LLINs would be distributed in four states with support from GFATM.

“I am glad to inform you that Jigawa state is one of the beneficiaries and a total of 3.7 million nets would be distributed to all communities in the 27 local government areas,’’ the minister said.

According to him, the federal government has adopted LLINs replacement campaign as one of the key strategies for the prevention and elimination of malaria in the country.

Adewole further stated that the federal government has adopted the use of electronic technology for a better and more efficient LLINs campaign process this year.

“We foresee a future where programme data will be viewed as real-time and decision making would become quicker and more effective,’’ he noted.

He said that there had been series of collaborations among the Jigawa Government, malaria partnership in the state and the Federal Ministry of Health before the commencement of the exercise.

The minister said the teamwork was to ensure appropriate and adequate planning for a successful LLINs replacement campaign in the state.

“Several meetings and engagements with relevant stakeholders in the state were held which culminated in the volunteering by the Deputy Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan, as the Jigawa ‘Net Ambassador’.

“Your Excellency, the acceptance of this role would no doubt prompt proper use of LLINs among people of Jigawa state.

“The Federal Ministry of Health congratulates His Excellency for this good gesture,’’ he said.

The minister recalled that in 2015, the federal ministry of health in collaboration with the National Population Commission and with support from the Malaria Partnership organised a Malaria Indicator Survey.

He disclosed that the result showed that 69 per cent of households in Nigeria had at least one insecticidal net.

“The result of the survey further revealed that 95 per cent of households in Jigawa had at least one insecticidal net.

“Similarly, 55.7 per cent of households had at least one net for every two persons.

“It is my joy therefore that with the distribution of over 3.7 million insecticidal nets, net coverage in the state will increase tremendously,’’ the minister added.

Adewole, therefore, called on Jigawa Government to take ownership of the campaign process to ensure its sustainability.

He also urged traditional rulers and religious leaders to support, not just the campaign, but the net hanging activities in their respective domains to ensure a sustainable ‘net culture’ in the state.

The deputy governor pledged the state government support towards the success of the programme aimed at malaria prevention.

Hassan called on the beneficiaries to make use of the nets as a preventive measure against malaria.

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He disclosed this at the Malaria Public Sector Stakeholders meeting on dissemination of the Achievements of the MAPS-C project of Africare, an NGO, in collaboration with Exxonmobil, in Abuja.

Adewole, who was represented by Dr Evelyn Ngige, Director, Public Health in the ministry, said that efforts put in combating malaria scourge in the country was yielding positive results, as recent surveys show progression.

According to the minister, Nigeria contributes about 27 per cent of the 260 malaria cases and 23 per cent of the 435,000 deaths recorded in 2016, according to the 2017 World Malaria Report.

Adewole said that in order to sustain the gains and sustain the danger of a reversible, there was a need to deploy innovative approach to prevent, diagnose and treat malaria.

“With an effective surveillance system, we could track our progress.

“We have embarked on actualisation of the basic healthcare fund which is meant to increase the physical space and overall financing of the health sector and lead to the achievement of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” he said.

Adewole, while appreciating Africare, said that the Malaria Prevention in MPN Suppliers Communities (MAPS-C) initiative was quite an impressive one.

The initiative, he explained, was an attempt to improve the quality of testing and diagnose malaria while also collating data through the introduction of a new technology, the Deki reader.

The technology, the minister added, was a specialised and integrated platform that uses an innovative approach to improve the accuracy of Rapid Diagnostic Testing (RDT) for data capturing and decision making.

Adewole listed the pilot states for the use of the technology as Akwa Ibom and Rivers.

He however implored Exxonmobile to expand it to other neighbouring areas of the benefitting states.

The minister called on all stakeholders in the health sector, especially the private sector, to collaborate with government in healthcare delivery as well as support malaria control efforts across the country.

Earlier, the Country Director of Africare, Dr Doherty Orode, said that the initiative, which was without its challenges, was successful because of the Deki reader.

She explained that before the introduction of the technology in the communities where the project was implemented, malaria tests were not carried out before treatments and the use of chloroquine was still on.

Orode however said that progress was made later with the Deki reader, which allowed for getting results, accounting for commodities and also gave details which was stored in a portal for future reference.

She also said that a significant reduction in over treatment was achieved after the acceptability of the technology among members of the community.

Our correspondent reports that Africare is a US- based organisation which seeks to address African development and policy issues to build sustainable, healthy and productive communities.

It was also reported that its MAPS-C project has served over 90,000 people in four local government areas in Akwa Ibom and Rivers states; namely Eket, Ibeno, Bonny and Ogu-bolo since 2011 to 2018.

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