Romanus Oyibe, a medicine vendor attends to a patient in his store. Novartis and the Society for Family Health (SFH), one of Nigeria's largest non-governmental organizations, trained approximately 390 vendors like Mr. Oyibe to diagnose and treat common childhood illnesses such as malaria and diarrhea. Severe cases are referred to the closest health center.
A rapid malaria testing kit. Almost 37 000 children under the age of five were treated for malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia through the joint Novartis and SFH project.
A child receives an antimalarial treatment supplied by Novartis. In 2021, Novartis reached the milestone of one billion antimalarial treatments delivered to patients in endemic countries since 1999, 450 million of which went to children and more than 90% supplied without profit.
Angela Ituma (standing), the leader of a local market, encourages women to take their children to be screened for malaria. The project works with community influencers like Ms. Ituma to help raise awareness about the prevention and treatment of common childhood diseases.
Ezekiel Nwoba, a Society for Family Health canvasser, goes door-to-door in local communities to raise awareness about preventable childhood diseases. Through the project, more than 500 000 people across Ebonyi and Kaduna states in Nigeria were reached with basic information about malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea.
