Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has urged African nations to deploy nuclear technology in eradicating mosquitoes from the continent.
Dr Onu said this at the African Union meeting on science, technology and innovation held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the weekend, a statement from the ministry’s spokesman Abdul Ganiyu Aminu, said Saturday night.
Onu said the application of nuclear technology to eradicate malaria would sterilize the male Anopheles mosquitoes which will, in turn, be released to the environment to mate with the female mosquitoes.
He further said: “This will result in a gradual but continuous reduction of the population of the female mosquitoes which are responsible for transmitting the malaria parasites.”
He added that by continuously sterilizing the male Anopheles mosquitoes and releasing them into the environment, the population of mosquitoes will continue to decline, ultimately leading to the eradication of malaria.
Dr Onu appealed to African nations to strive to rid the continent of malaria, adding that “an Africa free of malaria will be one of the most important legacy we must bequeath our children and generation yet unborn.’’
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He further said that for the eradication of malaria to be effective, the solution must have a continental-wide application.
“The eradication of malaria is not something that can be achieved by either a single country or even a region in African.’’
“If this is not done, any success achieved can be reversed as people who are sick of malaria travel from one country to another’’, he said.
