Tayebwa rallies Ugandans to support fight against malaria

The deputy Speaker of Parliament has rallied Ugandans to take part in the forthcoming World Malaria Day celebrations and participate in the ride against malaria exercise to raise awareness about the disease. The national celebrations will take place in Mbarara on April 27, 2023.
Data from Ministry of Health according to weekly surveillance indicates that over 150,000 cases are confirmed for malaria. The report says for every 100 people, 40 test positive for malaria, and 19 deaths were reported at health facilities.
Mr Tayebwa on his part said malaria kills 52 Ugandans daily and accounts to economic loss of Shs2.4 trillion per year.
“This is the damage this killer disease has inflicted on our country. For that reason, on Sunday April 23, I will participate in the Parliament Walk against Malaria. As legislators, it’s our duty to ensure that indeed the right measures are put in place as far as fighting malaria in the country is concerned. We are all in this together so we need to take action before it's too late,” Mr Tayebwa said.
“I also call upon fellow citizens to join us and donate blood on the same day. We have a shortage of blood in the country. So let’s save lives. Let's fight Malaria,” he said.
In a separate, but related event, Dr Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health, said malaria has a huge economic burden that needs to be tackled. She said the ministry has embarked on an awareness creation with engagement from other stakeholders.
“Malaria continues to be a serious economic war. As part of our efforts to change this, we’ve launched joint efforts with the private sector to enhance awareness, diagnosis and treatment of malaria,” Dr Atwine said.
While every effort is being made to combat the disease, the country is still grappling with shortage vector control officers.
Uganda’s Vector Control Division was created in the early 1920’s to control malaria and malaria vectors especially in urban areas where there were non-immune colonial officers and imported Asian labourers.
The ministry says the division has Vector Control Officers in more than 69 districts where they work as district local government employees under the District Health Office (DHO) and in health sub-districts
Currently Uganda has 135 districts, and 11 cities, meaning there is need to recruit more such officers to manage the situation.
Research Triangle Consortium, a group of different research entities working to control spread of malaria says government cannot ignore this and must recruit more personnel.
“To end malaria in Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa at large, the government of Uganda needs to recruit more vector control officers to map mosquitos’ area breeding zones in Uganda to support prevention of vector born disease occurrence,” the consortium says.
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