Health Ministry urged to step up efforts to tackle malaria

Members of Parliament want Government to increase efforts to curb the increasing cases of malaria in the country with a call for more sensitisation.
According to the MPs, there are few or no malaria drugs in Government health facilities around the country and that the human resource to attend to patients presenting malaria symptoms is low.
“We have had over 21 deaths related to malaria in Kitgum district, and we want the minister to dispatch a team of health workers to do a comprehensive assessment of this situation,” said Hon. Okin P.P. Ojara (IND, Chua West County).
Agago Woman MP, Hon. Akello Judith Franca said a report from health centres in the district indicated that 90 per cent of cases were related to malaria adding that medicine was hard to come by.
“We informed our people to be patient and wait for the drugs to be brought to the health centres but Agago district has not yet received any anti-malarial medicine. This has forced our people to look for drugs at clinics, which are expensive,” said Akello Franca.

The MPs raised the concerns while responding to a statement by the Health Minister, Hon. Jane Ruth Aceng, on the malaria upsurge in the country.
The Minister in her report, acknowledged a malaria upsurge, which started in June 2019 and attributed the prevalence to the rainy season.
“Cases of severe malaria have increased by 30 per cent especially in urban settings but the malaria case fatality rate has not significantly increased. This has affected half the country covering 65 districts,” Aceng said.
She also attributed the upsurge to reduced mosquito net ownership and use due to the aging of nets distributed in the financial year 2017/2018, as well as low malaria prevalence that had led to complacency in prevention practices.
“People in areas with low malaria like Kampala and Kigezi region are prone to severe malaria due to reduced immunity; and our statistics indicate that we have registered a total of 820 deaths during this upsurge,” the minister added.
According to the minister’s statement, prevention measures among others include routine distribution of long lasting insecticide treated nets to pregnant women in antenatal care clinics and children in immunisation clinics.
“We are fast-tracking the implementation of the 2020 mass campaign where we shall distribute 26 million nets and introduce new distribution channels to selected districts with high malaria burden,” Aceng added.
MPs however, expressed concern over the cost for procurement and distribution of mosquito nets valued at US$104 million, saying the reach would be limited.
“The cost of buying and delivering these nets is too high. The ministry should work out a mechanism to bring the cost down so that the whole country can be reached at the same time,” said Hon William Nzoghu (FDC, Busongora North County).
MPs also called for the availability of low cost drugs in health centres across the country, to give a chance to low income earners to afford malaria treatment.