With a population of 148 million, Nigeria accounts for a quarter of the malaria burden in Africa; with malaria being responsible for 30% of childhood deaths and 11% of maternal deaths within the country. In response to this enormous burden, the Government of Nigeria has worked with development partners to put together an ambitious National Malaria Strategic Plan, which aims to achieve universal coverage in key interventions in all 37 states in Nigeria and support health systems strengthening. Over four years starting from 2009, the strategy envisages the distribution of over 96 million bednets, 51 million malaria rapid diagnostic tests and over 322 million artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) treatments to treat malaria cases as well as behaviour change programmes to encourage the use of interventions.
In 2008, the Department for International Development (DFID) launched a five-year, £50m project to support the Government of Nigeria's own National Malaria Programme. This project, led by the Malaria Consortium, is working with the Nigerian Government and other partners to prevent up to an estimated one million deaths due to malaria through: capacity development, improving population coverage of bednets and access to effective anti-malarial treatment, increased community awareness and demand for malaria interventions and operational research to provide an evidence base for more effective malaria strategies. The project is being implemented in six states; Lagos, Kano, Anambra, Ogun, Katsina and Niger States, with the national headquarters in Abuja also providing support at the federal level.
Crown Agents is responsible for all procurement under this project, including purchasing over four million long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets (LLINs) and 10 million anti-malaria drug treatments, including ACTs and sulfadoxine-pyrimethane (SP) for use as intermittent preventative therapy for pregnant women. During the project's inception phase, DFID also asked Crown Agents to purchase and deliver two million additional LLINs for distribution to target states.