A team of medical scientists studying the effect of malaria on Ibeshe island near Lagos, have raised alarm over the combined impact of malaria and malnutrition on people there.
Team leader Dr. Bamgboye Afolabi, a senior research fellow at the Nigerian Medical Research Institute (NIMR), told state-run News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend that while a malaria control programme mounted by the Lagos government in 1998 had helped some people, Ibeshe residents had not benefited because they had no access to medical facilities.
He said about 30 percent of the more than 450 children the team saw and followed up had malaria parasites. The researchers also found that the children's diet -mainly carbohydrates- was not varied enough.
Afolabi urged the government and corporate organisations to provide the team with a generator to operate a small laboratory, boats, life jackets and drugs to enhance their effort to provide free treatment to people in Ibeshe, NAN reported.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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