US gives Uganda Shs140b to support malaria fight
Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng (left)appears in Parliament recently. Minister Aceng has disclosed that the government will embark on vaccinations of children against malaria. PHOTO / DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Dr Jimmy Opigo, the programme manager for Malaria control at the Ministry of Health, said the support has been made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United States of America has given Uganda $40 million (Shs140 billion) to support interventions to halve the malaria burden in the next five years.
Dr Jimmy Opigo, the programme manager for Malaria control at the Ministry of Health, said the support has been made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
He added that “the highest burdened areas of Karamoja, West Nile, Acholi, Lango and Busoga” stand to benefit.
This followed the launch of the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI) Uganda malaria reduction activity—a five-year project that will be conducted in the five regions between February 2022 and February 2027.
PMI is a US government initiative designed to reduce malaria deaths and illnesses in target countries in sub-Saharan Africa like Uganda.
Malaria kills 16 Ugandans daily and causes an estimated annual economic loss of $500 million (Shs1.76 trillion) due to treatment costs and work time lost.
Mr Benjamin Binagwa, the public health specialist who is the chief of party for the project, said the project was designed to address existing gaps in the malaria fight.
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“It will support the government of Uganda to do three main things: increase community participation in malaria prevention interventions at community and household levels, engage private for-profit facilities to better manage malaria and also do early referrals, and also provide data and information on the cases being managed at the private sector to inform decision at the district level,” he said.
Dr Opigo said misuse of over-the-counter drugs has compounded the malaria problem in Uganda.
“When they are mismanaged there, they come to us when they have severe malaria [and] we have to put them on drip and transfuse them,” he revealed.
In a related development, Health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng disclosed that the government will embark on vaccinations of children against malaria, as a major step towards eliminating one of the country’s major health threats.
Dr Aceng revealed that government plans are nearing implementation with—among others—undertaking research around the malaria vaccine. She was in the House responding to shadow Health minister Dr Timothy Batuwa’s (Jinja South West) inquiry about the government’s intervention against malaria.
“Uganda has one of the highest cases of malaria and is ranked fourth in Africa region with over 90 percent of the population at risk, especially children and pregnant mothers with 20.4 million cases and a death toll of 30,900 in 2020 alone. Malaria causes an annual economic loss of over $500 million with malaria-related expenses,” Dr Batuwa said.
The shadow Health minister consequently pushed for a revision of the policy on malaria drugs in Uganda.
Dr Batuwa suggested that the government “subsidise[s] the price for drugs used in emergency care.”
The House Speaker, Ms Anita Among, also proposed that “preventive programmes” targeting malaria be floated.
In response, Dr Aceng revealed that the government is in the process of inoculating Ugandans to shield them from malaria and its dire effects. Up to two million children below five years are being targeted by the Ministry of Health for the initiation of vaccination against malaria in the country next year.
The vaccine—RTS, S/AS01—has been undergoing a pilot in some countries like Kenya and Malawi where it was proven to be safe.
“The budget for malaria is heavily donor supported. We spend approximately $120million on malaria annually and it is majorly donor supported. Through government of Uganda, we get about Shs13 billion, Shs10 billion of which is for medicines, Shs2 billion for larvicide and Shs1 billion for various interventions,” Dr Aceng revealed, adding that interventions like indoor residual spraying are “extremely expensive.”
