The Chief Medical Director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Prof. David Oke, has described malaria as the deadliest disease in the world.

Oke said this at a conference organised by the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria in Lagos.

According to him, malaria kills more people than the deadly Human Immuno-Deficiency virus.

He said, “Malaria is the most dangerous disease in the world because it kills more people than any other disease. While many people are said to be resistant to the HIV virus, the same cannot be said of malaria. But, we must not fear because it can be controlled and prevented. Where there is a will, there is a way.”

A malariologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba, Prof. Wellington Oyibo, identified drug resistance, poor knowledge and non-compliance with intervention strategies, such as the use of long lasting insecticides and mosquito nets as challenges militating against malaria control in the country.

Calling also for better funding of prevention programmes, he noted that 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, especially in Nigeria.

The AMLSN Chairman, Mr. Gbolahan Kabiawu, said malaria control was everybody’s responsibility.

The association, he said, was training its personnel across all tiers of government on accurate diagnosis of the disease.

“We have been collaborating with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and malariologists to conduct research to determine species of mosquitoes causing malaria,” Kabiawu noted.