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Malaria prevalence in Nigeria declined from 42 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2015, but head of Case Management Branch, National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), Dr. Godwin Ntadom has said pregnant women and their unborn children are still at risk of dying from the disease.
Ntadom, in an interview with LEADERSHIP Weekend said Nigeria has a population of about 180 million and the people who suffer from malaria are the children and the pregnant women because they cannot develop partial immunity.
He said living in malaria endemic zone, could make the body to develop some partial immunity which resists the parasite, adding that continuous taking of injection against the parasite could also make the body develop anti bodies to fight back
He however warned that the resistance might not be strong enough to stop the development of malaria.
He added that pregnant women and children do not have such opportunities, which make them vulnerable to disease.
He also explained that when the parasites enter the body of a pregnant woman, they might go to the placenta and feed on the baby’s food in the placenta and because the parasites are in a comfortable environment, they multiply and replenish themselves.
He explained: “After sometime, there may not be enough food for the parasites, meaning, all the food that goes into the placenta are completely eaten by the parasites, leaving nothing for the baby to feed from. At that point, since there is a separation between the human blood and the foetus blood, the woman herself may not feel anything because what actually make one have symptoms of malaria is the waste material excreted by the parasites”.