Unplugging Africa from Malaria Sockect 2019; Uganda in spotlight

How to hike malaria elimination program impact; Uganda in spotlight

   By Tonny Abet

Credit: topnews.in

Malaria is an active contributor to the deceleration of economic growth in Africa, the leading cause of death and suffering among infants, pregnant mothers and general populants of the Africa continent . Ranking 6th in the world among the highly malaria burdened countries, Uganda contributes up to 4% of global malaria deaths annually.  Billions of shillings are spent yearly to manage malaria. Last year 2018 alone, Uganda spent 500 billion UGX in comabating the disease with some results to showcase. However, the annual deaths from malaria remain unacceptably high despite the huge billions being spent to propel the nobel war.

The next question is, how differently can the government of Uganda and development partners approach the malaria elimination drive with better success?

I am sharing three (3) profound strategies which hinge on communucation and public engagement.


1. Prioritize educating the public on the need for early diagnosis and treatment, these are very essential in quick and complete recovery of the patients. The radio talkshows should not wane off on this important area, the art, prints and social media are useful tools that can bring out the above.


2. Involving the community in designing the campaign/outreach strategies. People are changing daily, from colour preference through shifts in taste bud to the meeting point  choices, we can only be up to date when we randomly select from the local community, a team to sit in strategy development. Often, the government officials the development partners work with are prone to suggest their convenient strategies which may not be the effective bullet at that time or true reflection of the dynamic community needs.


3. Focus on educating young children to embrace and adopt by heart sleeping under mosqyito nets. The reality is better, in 2017, I did a research with Makerere University School of Public health interviewing people across the country on the use of mosquito nets, it is true that very few adults in Uganda sleep under mosquito nets that are distributed however, they are always keen to see their children sleep under the insecticide treated mosquito net. Now, it is important that as these children grow up, they don't view sleeping under mosquito net as a form of force/rule by their parents but they should be aided to view sleeping under these bed nets as a scientifically proven and generationally fit way to save yourslelf, health and money from the voracious disease called malaria. The children should be clearly illustrated to the hostility of malaria to their community, and the importance of their active involvement through sleeping under treated msquito bed nets to stop the suffering from their community for good among adoption of other strategies to end malaria in Uganda. This shall be cost effectively done through school health clubs and arts. To me this last point is not only very sustainable but also very effective in closely hitting the 2030 goal on malaria elimination!