Jigawa Primary Health Care Development Agency (JPHCDA) says 10,315 cases of malaria have were recorded in health centres of Hadejia Local Government Area between August and September.
The agency’s manager in the area, Yusif Hakimi, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Hadejia on Tuesday.
He said the spread of the disease was mainly caused by the blockage of drainage channels, which served as breeding centres for mosquitoes.
Mr Hakimi said that the residents must evolve effective waste disposable scheme involving government and Community Based Organisations to tackle the menace.
“We must devise a means of continuous drainage of our waste because mosquito eggs are mostly hatched in the drains in our environment,” he said.
The manager disclosed that the agency had trained 26 medical laboratory technicians in microscopic diagnosis of malaria for more reliable result.
He added that the participants were drawn from the existing nine primary health care centres in the area.
“Although the RDT is faster because it takes just five minutes to get results, the microscopic diagnosis takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get result.
“Our investigation has shown that the microscopic diagnosis is more reliable and effective, hence the need for this migration.
“The laboratory technicians were exposed to both theory and practice of microscopic diagnosis by a renowned expert, Ibrahim Mohammed-Hadejia, and some of them confessed to receiving such training for the first time in 10 years,” the manager said.
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