ABUJA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's malaria burden has fallen from 42 percent in 2010 to 15 percent in 2025 following sustained efforts to combat the disease in Africa's most populous country, the government said on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare Iziaq Adekunle Salako told reporters that the decline reflects significant progress over the past 15 years, describing the achievement as a major milestone.
The progress was driven by multiple interventions, including vector control, improved diagnosis and treatment, enhanced disease surveillance, preventive programs, and the successful implementation of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) in northern Nigeria, according to the minister.
Despite the gains, Nigeria still accounts for about 24.3 percent of the global malaria burden, and the disease remains one of the leading causes of death among children under five, highlighting the need for additional evidence-based interventions to accelerate malaria elimination, Salako said.
He added that Intermittent Preventive Treatment for infants, recommended by the World Health Organization for malaria-endemic countries, has been introduced in states not eligible for SMC to further reduce the burden.
In October 2024, Nigeria introduced a free malaria vaccine into its routine immunization program for children under one year of age. More than 800,000 doses were distributed during the first phase of the rollout.
According to the 2025 World Malaria Report, nearly 200,000 malaria-related deaths occurred in Nigeria in 2024, with children under five and pregnant women remaining the most vulnerable. ■