The Kwara State Government has flagged off the 2026 Integrated Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITN) Mass Campaign and Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) Programme as the wife of the governor, Olufolake Abdulrazaq, administers antimalarial vaccine on eligible children and pregnant women as part of efforts to reduce malaria-related illnesses and deaths across kwara.
The campaign, held at Ahmadu Bello House, Government House, Ilorin, combines the free distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets across the sixteen local government areas with the administration of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention medicines to eligible children aged three to fifty-nine months in eleven high-burden local government areas.
As part of efforts to drastically reduce the scourge of malaria, especially among children and mothers, the office of the wife of the Kwara State governor commenced the distribution of two million insecticide nets to households across the sixteen local government areas in the state.
Speaking at the event, the wife of the state governor, Olufolake AbdulRazaq, described malaria as one of Nigeria’s greatest public health challenges, noting that more than 807,000 children under the age of five in Kwara depend on effective malaria prevention.
She reaffirmed the state’s commitment to universal health coverage and commended frontline health workers, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, local government chairmen and their spouses, as well as development partners for supporting the initiative.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Amina Ahmed El-Imam, said the integrated campaign would distribute 2,086,568 insecticide-treated nets to 766,469 households, while 665,057 children under five years would benefit from the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention programme.
She explained that the initiative forms part of the state’s strategy to build a resilient and sustainable health system through universal access to proven malaria prevention interventions and urged residents to cooperate fully with campaign teams.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Kwara State House of Assembly Committee on Health and Nutrition, Seun Ogunniyi, pledged the continued legislative support of the Tenth Assembly towards expanding healthcare infrastructure and sustaining efforts to eliminate malaria in the state.
The campaign, supported by the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Malaria Elimination Programme and development partners, is being implemented under the theme, ‘Driven to End Malaria: Now We Can’.
