Nigeria: Aliko Dangote, owner of Dangote Cement and Africa’s richest person, has been appointed by Nigeria’s government to lead a committee tasked to eliminate malaria. The committee will also include Folorunsho Alakija, another Nigerian billionaire, as well as other successful local business owners. Dangote was chosen to lead the committee, which will be comprised of 16 members, due to his previous financial support of various public health measures, including polio vaccination programmes.
The anti-malaria team was brought together to battle the growing cases in Nigeria, which has the highest prevalence of infection worldwide. According to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, eliminating malaria could save the country US$1.6bn/yr at present and up to US$4.8bn/yr by 2030.