An environmental and public health expert, Dr Samuel Akingbehin, has called for a paradigm shift in the fight against malaria, from control measures to a prevention-focused approach.
Akingbehin, who is also the President of the Environmental Health and Public Health Practitioners Association of Nigeria (EPHPAN), made the call during an interview on Thursday in Lagos.
He acknowledged that significant efforts had been made toward controlling malaria, but stressed the need for increased investment in research and technological innovations aimed at preventing the disease entirely.
“We need to focus on how to eliminate the mosquito vector that causes malaria,” he said, lamenting that both government and international agencies had spent heavily on treatment without achieving lasting results.
“We have expended too much on curing malaria, which has not yielded the desired outcomes.
“Instead of focusing more resources on treatment and genetic control, let’s shift to prevention, eliminating or reducing mosquito populations.
“Without mosquitoes, malaria cannot affect anyone,” Akingbehin added.
He advocated for an integrated approach involving physical, chemical, biological, genetic, and environmental strategies to prevent malaria.
According to him, prevention not only protects public health but also preserves economic and manpower resources.
On practical steps, Akingbehin urged governments to provide effective drainage systems, while calling on manufacturing companies, households, and individuals to ensure proper waste disposal and environmental sanitation.
“Mosquitoes breed in stagnant drainages, gutters, low-lying areas, and water-bearing plants.
“People should screen their windows and doors with nets, fumigate regularly, use mosquito repellent creams, and sleep under insecticide-treated nets,” he said.
He further urged state governments to engage public health professionals to develop localised strategies for malaria prevention.
Akingbehin emphasised that while malaria parasites lived longer in humans than in mosquitoes, effective community-based strategies that blocked contact between humans and mosquitoes, combined with comprehensive treatment, could interrupt transmission.
NAN
