Treat all Ugandans for malaria

By Charles Wendo DOCTOR Charles Seezi, a consultant physician in Mulago Hospital, says Government should treat all Ugandans at one go with anti-malarial drugs whether they are sick or not. He says this is the only way malaria can be eliminated. "It should be a public holiday and everybody is treated," he says. "There might be a lot of grumbling but this is what the world will have to do." Seezi says current efforts to control malaria are ineffective because they are directed at the wrong targets. Presently the Ministry of Health emphasises the use of bed nets, destruction of mosquitoes and their breeding sites and prompt treatment of malaria patients. Seezi says this strategy leaves out the most important source of malaria. He says the mosquito is not the source of malaria. It only transfers the germs from person to person. "Until Jesus comes back, there is no way you can go to every mosquito and say, 'come and I spray you.' You cannot get rid of mosquitoes in this part of Africa," he says. "It is possible to have mosquitoes without malaria." Seezi says a number of people have malaria parasites in their blood but look healthy. Mosquitoes transfer the parasites from the carriers to other people, who may fall ill. He says the carriers are the main source of malaria. The disease, he says, cannot be defeated unless the carriers are cleaned. Seezi says only human beings can carry the malaria parasite. So treating them could wipe out the malaria parasite. Estimating the cost of treating each person at sh400, Seezi says the project would cost a small amount of money that the Government can afford without donor aid. Critics say Seezi has not yet tested his hypothesis. They fear that the strategy could backfire since malaria is resistant to some drugs. Besides, people would lose their resistance to malaria if parasite were eliminated totally. Dr. Margaret Mungherera, chairperson of the Uganda Medical Association, agrees saying that educating people to use nets and kill mosquitoes would take long and meet minimal success. Prof. Francis Omaswa, Director General of Health Services, sees a point in Seezi's argument but says the idea cannot be adopted without a careful study. "You cannot move forward without facts, and facts are got from studies. We can chose localities and try this out in six months then go on scale next year," he says. Ends