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The Health Adviser, British High Commission (BHC), Dr Ebere Anyachukwu, said this in an interview in Abuja, commemorating World Malaria Day.
Anyachukwu said that the government of the UK contributed the money to a global fund that mobilised resources for countries to fight diseases.
According to him, the £1 billion was added to the funds from other donors, managed by global funds to tackle malaria and other diseases in Nigeria.
He added that it was from that funding that payment for things like insecticide, treated bed nets, diagnostics testing for malaria and chemoprevention were made.
“There are some states in Nigeria where malaria is seasonal. Those are states where chemoprevention is used to prevent children from coming down with malaria.
“In those states, malaria spreads in a few months within a year, and during that period, there is a high level of malaria transmission in children, resulting in lots of deaths,” he said.
The health adviser said that children in such states were usually given malaria drugs, whether or not they have malaria.
“These are part of measures by global funds that have significantly reduced the level of sicknesses and deaths in children,” he said.
He said that the UK was a big contributor to the global fund, which is currently supporting about 13 states in Nigeria.
He listed the states to include Adamawa, Delta, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Yobe and Taraba.
“With the global funding support, there has been a significant reduction of malaria-related deaths in children in Nigeria.
“In 2008, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that Nigeria had about 221, 000 malaria-related deaths. But by 2022, the figure was about 189 deaths.
“There is a significant reduction due to the intervention of global funds, even when there was an increase in the nation’s population.
“Lots of lives have been saved over the years because people now have access to healthcare facilities funded by these interventions,” he said.(NAN)
