Uganda to adopt new strategy in the fight against Malaria

BY SAMUEL NABWIISO

The Ministry of Health is developing new strategy which will support the ministry in the fight against malaria in the country, a, disease which is becoming serious killer.

Under the new strategy   the ministry of health will engage the entire stakeholder ranging from policy makers, Medical and Health experts, Religious Institutions and local governments at various levels.

The National malaria Control Prgramme officer at the Ministry of Health Dr. Jimmy Opiga said the Government registered big achievement in the fight of HIV /AIDs in the country, the same strategy government used should be adopted in the fight of Malaria in the country.

“We are going to adopt new strategy which will bring on board all sector players in the fight of the disease  we hope that if its well embraced  by the general public then Uganda will be malaria free state” The manager said this last week during the Malaria symposium in Kampala.

The mass Action against malaria (MAAM) strategy will replace the current approach being utilized by the ministry, which the technical people at the Ministry says it has not been effective in the fight against malaria since it excludes other players of which some are very crucial especially when it comes to mobilizing the locals in the struggle to fight the diseases.

Commissioner  Dr.Patrick Tusiime at the stall of Troikaa Pharmaceutical this was during the Malaria symposium he urged the private sector to support Uganda inthe fight of Malaria  

“Although Government has been coming up with strategies to prevent malaria our local people on many occasion have not been embracing them because they were not massively mobilized by their local leaders and other Influential leaders such as church and traditional leaders with the MAAM strategy such leaders are going to be integrated into the system to help government in mobilizing the local people towards the fight against malaria” He explained.

Speaking at the same event the Commissioner for National Diseases Control at the Ministry of Health  Dr Patrick  Tusiime  said  the increasing incidences of malaria outbreak in the country has economic Impact on the country’s Economy thus the need to  jointly join the forces towards eliminating  the disease out of the country.

“Uganda will not attain middle Income status  when  the country is still challenged with malaria let us join our efforts  towards eradicating the disease out of the country , Government alone cannot  solve the problem without the support of Development partners , private sector and cultural leaders “ He said.

Commenting on the MAAM strategy,Santosh Singh the Senior Country Manager for Troikaa Pharmaceutical an India based company supplying pharmaceutical products in Uganda, said for the strategy to be effective, government need to invest more resources towards the development of Health Infrastructures and recruits more man power to man the health facilities across the country.

“Infrastructures such  as  medical laboratories are vital in the treating of malaria government need to ensure that labs are in place with genuine testing kits and  qualified staffs to utilize the kits .It’s not  good to put someone on malaria treatment when there’s no proof  of malaria” He said.

The commissioner registering in the  Guest Book at the Troikaaa stalls 

He added by advising government   to sensitize the public about malaria saying the mass campaign will play vital role in behaviors changes which have exposed many Ugandans to Malaria.

“The general public can adopt good social behaviors which can limit their chances of suffering from the disease this has been tested in the fight against Cancer and HIV /AIDS in the country where massive mobilization on behaviors changes has been done by the government “ He added .

Is malaria big Health problem in the country? The country accounts for 4 per cent of malaria cases in the whole world, making it to the top five countries responsible for nearly half of all malaria cases worldwide. Other countries are Nigeria, DRC Congo, Mozambique, and India this ios according to the World malaria report published in2018

The ranking of Uganda at that level shows  that the disease isistill big challenge despite the fact that government has been implementing preventive measure such as the distribution of 24 million mosquito nets nationwide in addition to Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) which involves application of insecticides to the inside of dwellings.