Some medical experts in Kaduna said on Friday that the current deaths in the state were largely due to the scourge of Malaria, as patients fear to go to hospitals because of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dr Firima August and Mrs Olukemi Adeyoju both of Malaria Consortium made the revelations during a biannual media briefing. The briefing was on Global Fund Malaria Accountability and Advocacy Project organised by Civil Society in Malaria Control, immunisation and Nutrition, (ACOMIN) held in Kaduna on Friday. The duo who attended the ‘focus media meeting at state level’, while responding to newsmen, said many have died silently of Malaria fever in their various homes out of fear of going for the test in hospital and be misunderstood for COVID-19. They noted that in a Malaria ravaged country like Nigeria, many communities have shied away from going to health facilities or hospital for Malaria test. According to them, the fear is that while on the test they could contract COVID-19 and be quarantined even if they test positive to Malaria or something else. “What’s prominent now is COVID-19, but it is very important to let people to be aware of Malaria and that is why a lot of people are actually dying now of malaria, not COVID-19.” And do you know why they are dying, the symptoms of COVID-19 and malaria are very similar, so they don’t want to go to health facilities for the test. “We’re encouraging them to go but they’ll prefer self-medication and that’s mortality, death. “They don’t want to go for a test because the symptoms are similar. The fear is that if it is not malaria, it’ll be something else. “When they see the symptoms they get scared thinking it is COVID-19, they don’t want to go to the facilities and get tested because they don’t want to be isolated.” Credit: vanguardngr.com
The post Malaria kills more patients afraid to patronise hospitals because of Coronavirus -NGO appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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