WORLD BANK GRANT TO HELP FIGHT MALARIA IN NIGERIA

The World Bank has approved a grant of $180 million to fight malaria in Nigeria, which will focus on promoting malaria-prevention measures and providing the country with more artemisinin combination therapy medications.

Gobind Nankani, vice president of the World Bank's Africa Regional Office, said the new plan would involve public and private sector partners, along with federal, state, and local governments, in developing a revised "Roll Back Malaria" strategy. Scale-up operations will be enacted in 10 of the country's 36 states, he added.

Malaria, which accounts for 30 percent of pediatric deaths and 11 percent of deaths among pregnant women in Nigeria, infects up to 60 percent of the country's population each year.