Secondly, some patients have COVID-19 and won’t want the health workers to screen them. They want immediate attention. The health care workers are hu… - Catherine Falade

Any patient that is positive for malaria on the rapid diagnostic test should be treated with an efficacious drug and that is Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) and not chloroquine. Chloroquine has failed. Many adults will tell you chloroquine works for malaria. But that is because chloroquine has an anti-inflammatory effect and so the aches and pains will go. Chloroquine also has fever-lowering effects which also makes the patient feel better as the fever resolves at least for a while as he/she will not feel febrile but the parasites are still swimming in the blood and growing because the parasites have developed resistance to it.

The masses in Nigeria, particularly at the grassroots, need to be properly informed about this. Otherwise, Nigerians will read another meaning into the efforts of government and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The poor masses are also affected due to ineffective and costly way of treatment, which cannot be afforded by the parents.