Major health stories published last week The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said malaria is responsible for an annual reduction of 1.3 per cent in Africa’s economic growth. 3 min read Last week, Nigeria joined the rest of the world to commemorate World Malaria Day and World Immunisation week. The commemoration was done amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed over 3 million lives globally and over 2,000 lives in Nigeria. As Nigeria continues to record few new COVID-19 cases, the fatality from the virus has also declined with only two deaths recorded in the last 18 days. More Nigerians are still taking shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and approximately 1.2 million persons have received their first dose of the vaccines=, according to data by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).