North, west Nile regions to receive mosquito nets

Nov 19, 2016

According to the director general of health services, Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr Anthony Mbonye, 22 districts in these regions will get the bed nets under the campaign ‘one net per two people in a family’.

The ministry of health has started registering households in Acholi, Lango and west Nile regions ahead of distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets. The distribution is slated for early next month.

According to the director general of health services, Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr Anthony Mbonye, 22 districts in these regions will get the bed nets under the campaign ‘one net per two people in a family'.

The move aims at reducing the prevalence of malaria cases in these regions.

"The registration scheduled to start Sunday, will be carried out by village health teams and Local Council chairpersons," Mbonye said.

Acholi-Lango region is currently facing malaria epidemic and has high malaria prevalence.

Mbonye also revealed that a team from National Malaria Control Program had arrived in districts that will benefit from the first phase of the distribution exercise to collect data.

The districts include Adujumani, Amuru, Apac, Arua, Dokolo, Koboko, Kole, Maracha, Moyo, Nebbi, Lira, Nwoya, Oyam, Yumbe and Zombo.

Recently Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the Programme Manager National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), said cases of malaria in Northern Uganda have drastically dropped from 50,000 to 20,000 cases per week.

Malaria has been the leading cause of sickness and death in Uganda for several decades, claiming over 320 lives daily.

It accounted for 40% of inpatient deaths in financial year 2009/2010 and 31% deaths in 2012/2013, according to the annual health sector performance report 2013.

The statistics also show that Uganda has the world's highest malaria incidence, with a rate of 478 cases per 1,000 population per year.

The disease consumes over 10% of the MOH budget and 25% of household incomes. The country according to MOH has been losing over sh658m annually to malaria-related costs.

Statistics from World Health Organisation show that since 2000, global investments in many types of malaria control are estimated to have resulted in a 47% drop in the disease's global mortality rate and a 58% decrease in the mortality rate among African children.

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