Gusau – On August 20, 2020, the U.S. government, through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), donated 3.1 million bed nets in Nigeria’s Zamfara State as part of a national campaign to provide enough nets for every Nigerian to be protected from the deadly disease every night. The PMI program in Nigeria is jointly implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in coordination with the Government of Nigeria.

The life-saving nets will go to every local government area in Zamfara state. The bed net distribution is a critical component of the ongoing effort to end malaria in Nigeria, which results in more than 90,000 deaths per year.

“Malaria is the leading killer of children in Nigeria and brings illness and loss of productivity to too many families,” Dr. Jose Tchofa, USAID’s Senior Malaria Advisor, said at the handover ceremony. “If we all work together to protect ourselves from being bitten by sleeping under a bed net every night, we can control malaria for the good health of everyone in Zamfara and across Nigeria.”