By Blessing Odega
Mr Ndak Zuhumnan, the Programme Manager, Plateau Malaria Elimination Programme, has advocated the use of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) strips for testing malaria in children under five.
Zuhumnan said this on Tuesday in Jos during the 2025 Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Local Government Areas (LGAs) level kickoff meeting.
He explained that the RDTs provided a parasite-based, rapid, early, and accurate diagnosis of malaria as compared to the microscopy test, which required a laboratory setup and a trained microscopist, which was lacking in most primary health care settings.
The programme manager further said that for primary health care settings that had the microscope, they may not have a qualified microscopist to give accurate diagnoses.
He stated that it was best and most efficient to make use of the RDT stripe for an accurate diagnosis of malaria in children under five years of age.
Zuhumnan said that the essence of the meeting with the officials from the LGAs was to build on successes recorded in 2024 in the administration of the free seasonal malaria preventive drugs to over 1 million children under five..
The programme manager added that the meeting was also to mitigate against the challenges encountered in 2024.
According to him, the seasonal malaria preventive drug is a prophylaxis, which is the treatment given or action taken to prevent disease.
He said the administration of the seasonal malaria chemoprevention drug in 2025 would commence in June and continue till October.
The programme manager stated that the drugs would be administered in five cycles to children under five years of age without malaria to boost their immunity and prevent the children from coming down with malaria even when bitten by the mosquito vector.
He commended the 17 LGAs for attaining 100 per cent success in the administration of the seasonal malaria preventive drugs in 2024 and enjoined the participants to pay rapt attention during the meeting as they would cascade the knowledge acquired.
One of the participants, Mrs Mildred Gokum, a participant from Bokkos LGA, said the kickoff meeting was insightful, and it would enable her to discharge her duty proactively as regards the seasonal malaria chemoprevention drugs administration. NAN
