More than 500 patients affected by Malaria in less than two weeks – ‘It’s scary’ says  says one doctor. Dr Bakura Goni, who works at Gongulan clinic in Maiduguri has told our reporter Monday that he has been moved by the magnitude of the crisis.

Dr Goni says that 152 people have died at the clinic he works as a result of malaria and that most of the affected people are IDPs whose environment is not secure. That, he says, is the main reason that malaria will continue to attack the people in the camps and outside if necessary action is not taken by the authorities.

Bakura said that malaria easily affects people in different communities in Maiduguri because of mosquitoes, unhealthy rooms, leaking roofs during the rainy season, inadequate food, and weakened immune systems, all mean that many die.

The doctor added most of the IDPs don’t want to come to the hospital when they are sick and many of them are taking their sickness lightly, mistaking malaria for hunger, so they don’t even think of malaria.

Goni said that normally malaria gets stronger during the hot season, and that the immune system is weaker then, explaining why more people die in the season.

He finally stated that the best way to avert the menace of malaria in the city of Maiduguri, especially in the camps, is for the government to adopt sustainable preventive measures and helping people with mosquito nets. He called on the people of Maiduguri to come to the hospital when they feel ill.