Health System Expert Makes Case For Malaria Subnational Tailoring In Kaduna State

By; ISAAC ODEH, Kaduna

Stakeholders of Malaria control in Kaduna State convened on Thursday July 17, 2025, at Bafra International Hotel, Kaduna, for a co-creation workshop/ engagement event, to discuss the barriers facing malaria elimination in Kaduna State and ways to address them.

Concerning malaria control interventions, Kaduna is one of the States in Nigeria with very good outputs, especially having one of the highest levels of coverage in the distribution of insecticide treated nets (ITNs).

However, in spite of this output performance, the state still has high malaria prevalence

The Co-creation workshop/ engagement event on “Promoting evidence-informed policymaking and implementation to facilitate Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) for Malaria Subnational Tailoring (SNT) in Kaduna State”, was organized by the African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems, Nigeria and the Office of the Vice Chancellor, David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences (DUFUHS), Nigeria, in collaboration with Solina Centre for International Development and Research, Bill and Mellinda Gates Foundation, etc.In his opening/welcome remarks, the Vice Chancellor of David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Uburu, Nigeria, as well as the Founder/ Director of the African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems, Nigeria,

Prof Jesse Uneke, while reflecting on the event yesterday, applauded the attendance of the stakeholders to the event as well as their commitment so far in the malaria elimination program as evident in available national data.

More so, he expressed happiness having the presence of the Permanent Secretary of Kaduna State Ministry of Health, Dr. Aishatu Abubakar Sadiq, who represented the Honourable Commissioner for Health Hajiya Umma K. Ahmed. at the event.

The Professor emphasized on the role of co-creation, in understanding the implementation barriers responsible for the persistent high malaria prevalence in Kaduna State, despite the excellent performance in intervention outputs, as well as its role proffering context-specific solutions to address the barriers.

During her welcome address on behalf of the State Honorable Commissioner for Health, the Permanent Secretary appreciated the African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems, Nigeria and Solina Centre for International Development and Research, for bringing up such a multi-sectoral stakeholder gathering in the co-creation workshop gearing towards efforts in eliminating malaria in the Kaduna State.

She emphasized that the endemic disease has been around for decades, adding that the State has made several efforts towards controlling and eliminating the disease and the vector itself, including Larva Source Management, Insecticide Treated Nets, Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, Socio and behavioral change, etc. with support from development partners.

She also commended the field workers for their dedication and hard work, and promised that all the challenges faced are not unnoticed and that the government will continue to work together with all relevant actors to overcome them all.

She stressed that the State is committed in the fight against malaria and its elimination in Kaduna State.

Speaking on the lecture titled: “Promoting evidence-informed policymaking and implementation to facilitate Monitoring, Learning, and Evaluation (MLE) for Malaria Subnational Tailoring (SNT) in Kaduna State”, the Health Policy and Health Systems expert, Prof Jesse Uneke presented the Kaduna State malaria control scorecard along side the national scorecard, identifying the gaps that need to be addressed.

He emphasized that addressing such gaps would require policy interventions that is tailored to the people and their environment, considering the diverse cultural influences, political factors, administrative bureaucracies, societal norms and attitudes, that characterize every state in Nigeria.

The Vice Chancellor, therefore accentuated the need for stakeholders in the malaria control in the state, to look critically at the ongoing interventions to identify the reasons for the gaps in outcomes.

He charged the stakeholders to understand and take seriously the critical role they need to play in the co-creation, remarking that no one else understands the people and their environment as well as the malaria landscape of Kaduna better than they do.

The second lecture on “Role of Evidence in Policy Process: Insight into malaria control and interventions in Kaduna State”, was taken by another expert in Health Policy and Health Systems field, Dr Onyedikachi Chukwu.

He emphasized on the need for policymakers to develop the capacity to efficiently search for best available global and local evidence for the purpose making evidence informed policies.

Guiding the participants on how to search for evidence, Dr Chukwu presented the team’s findings of the rapid review of the available evidence on malaria control interventions in Kaduna State, highlighting some of the evidence on why malaria control strategies did not work optimally in the State.

The workshop witnessed a very robust co-creation section, where the stakeholders worked in six groups to brainstorm on the following critical issues: Capacity of Kaduna State to adopt and implement sub-nationally tailored malaria elimination interventions; Effectiveness of utilizing SNT-informed approaches in implementing malaria programme interventions in the State; Achievement of malaria outcomes and identification of the underlying factors contributing to the observed performance in the state; Scalable, cost-effective, and sustainable approaches for malaria elimination that can be adapted and implemented in other states with similar malaria burdens across Nigeria; and Critical enablers that can enhance the institutionalization of SNT in the target states, and its scale up to other states with similar malaria burdens across Nigeria.

The event was well attended by over seventy (70) stakeholders, who are mainly policymakers from Kaduna State ministry of health, selected from; Kaduna State Malaria Elimination Programme, Kano Kaduna Primary Health Care Development Agency, Kaduna State Hospital Management Board.

Also in attendance were researchers from Kaduna State University, as well as officers of Malaria Consortium Kaduna State, Civil Society Organizations, Solina Centre for International Development and Research, etc.

The event witnessed goodwill messages from some of the partners including Solina Centre for International Development and Research, Malaria Consortium Kaduna State, among others.

Each of them conveyed their unwavering commitment and the support of their organization in any cause that will result to malaria elimination in Kaduna State, adding that the co-creation workshop is a giant step in the right direction towards ensuring that malaria is eliminated in Kaduna State.

In addition, the Director of Public Health, SMOH, Kaduna State Dr. Abubakar Sadiq Idris who spoke on behalf of the State Malaria Elimination Programme Officer, emphasized that Kaduna State Government is committed to supporting partners and agencies, who are working towards the overarching goal of eliminating malaria in the state.

He added that he is looking forward to a fruitful co-creation.In his closing remark, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Jesse Uneke expressed his profound appreciation and excitement for the practical insights drawn from the experience of the stakeholders, who showed unabated interests throughout the plenary and co-creation sections.

He hinted that he is looking forward to the next stakeholders’ engagement meeting in about two months, when the synthesis of the outcomes of the co-creation and rapid review, would be presented for further deliberations.