Kabale District Officials have expressed concern over the growing cases of malaria in the district.
According to the Kabale district Health Educator Alfred Besigensi, the district noted a 10% rise in malaria cases with most central division, southern division and Butanda Sub-counties recording high numbers of malaria cases in the last six weeks.
Besigensi attributes high prevalence rate in those sub-counties on receiving many people from different regions. For example the municipality and Butanda being a border sub county also receives many people from the neighboring country.
The health officer was on Friday 17th February 2023 addressing a district malaria taskforce meeting at district headquarters at Makanga.
Besigensi called upon people to embark on preventive strategies like sleeping under treated mosquito nets, seeking early treatment from health facilities among others.
Speaking in the same meeting, the Kabale district Deputy Resident Commissioner Ronald Bakak, asked the district health authority make awareness for people to utilize malaria drugs.
Malaria remains the second killer disease among children under five, claiming 42 children daily and 1,095 annually according to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2011.
Uganda is still not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal on child mortality, with malaria contributing 13% of the under-five mortality.
Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable.
Malaria forms a major health burden in developing world, the highest building in Africa followed by South Asia. In South Asia, India has the largest number of cases registered every year.
According to the World Health Organisation, Malaria occurs primarily in tropical and subtropical countries. The vast majority of malaria cases and deaths are found in the WHO African Region, with nearly all cases caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. This parasite is also dominant in other malaria hotspots, including the WHO regions of South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific. In the WHO Region of the Americas, the Plasmodium vivax parasite is predominant, causing 75% of malaria cases.
The threat of malaria is highest in sub-Saharan Africa, and 6 countries in that region accounted for more than half of all malaria deaths worldwide in 2020: Nigeria (26.8%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5.4%), Mozambique (4.2%), Angola (3.4%) and Burkina Faso (3.4%)
By Ambrose Kweronda
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