Dr. Patrick Tusiime the commissioner National Disease Control in the Ministry of Health has advised the public to rush to the health facilities in the first 24-hours when infected with malaria as this will help to save lives due to the better outcomes.
“If one delays at home, and comes to the health facility when it’s late, it is easy to develop complications. Malaria parasites destroy blood cells, in that case your delay can cause severe anemia in both children and adults” Tusiime highlighted.
Tusiime made this call at a time when Malaria has lately become a top silent killer across the country by leading to loss of about 400 Ugandans monthly.
The Commissioner made these remarks at the Ministry of Health headquarters on Monday while receiving a donation of Anti-malaria drugs and other logistics by the private sector.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Malaria report of 2022 indicated that there was an estimated 247 million malaria cases in 2021 in 84 malaria endemic countries an increase from 245 million in 2020, with the most of this increase coming from countries in the WHO African Region.
The report further highlighted that 29 countries accounted for 96% of malaria cases and the four African countries of Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Mozambique accounted for almost half of all cases globally with a percentage of 27%, 12%, 5% and 4% respectively.
On behalf of the Permanent Secretary of Health, Tusiime cautioned those that steal government drugs not to dare do it this time round because at the end of the health camp, they will provide full accountability and whatever balances that would have remained.
The Ministry of Health organized a health camp in Kakumiro district that started on Monday with an aim of reaching the households to preach the gossip of malaria and also engage them in the response.
“We are doing this because the first line of defense in fighting malaria is at home level. When that line is broken, the elderly, children and pregnant women will fell sick and many of them will not reach the health facilities in time. That is why we start with the family so that we bring to them the idea of prevention” Tusiime asserted.
This donation that was worth UGX 18million was handed to the officials by Astra-Pharma ltd, Medvin-Pharma ltd, Vrushki investments ltd, Fosun – Pharma ltd and Aafiya- Afhra ltd and they will be used in the current health camp in Kakumiro district.
Although the 2022 report indicated that about 381million people in the 11 countries with high transmission in East and Southern Africa are at a high risk of malaria, it also pointed out that malaria transmission is stable in most of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda Tanzania and South Sudan and this is due to the initiation of the HBHI initiative in mostly Mozambique and Uganda.
The World Health Organization also pointed out that in several of these malaria hit countries have challenges like frequent pandemics, humanitarian and health emergencies, inadequate response due to political instability, inadequate funding for interventions and human resources and weak surveillance systems.
