The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | There is deteriorating immunity against malaria among people in Kampala, Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program manager malaria control at the Ministry of Health has revealed.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network on Wednesday evening, the doctor said their surveillance teams have noted an increasing number of people reporting for both out and in-patient care at various facilities with severe forms of malaria.
The most affected are children who are becoming anemic and others deteriorating into kidney and chest complications.
“Kampala has had low malaria for the past few years and we have deteriorating immunity. We have many who have not had malaria at all including adolescents. When they get malaria they get severe forms,” he said.
While malaria figures for Uganda are generally high with 2017 Ministry figures showing the disease claims 80,000 each year, that translates to an average of 200 people per day.
Kampala has since 2014 been having a drop in the number of hospital admissions due to the disease with Mulago National Referral hospital for instance registering an average of 10 in-patients every week. But currently, Dr. Richard Idro, a pediatrician at the hospital says they register five cases per day and that’s only at the children’s unit.
According to Opigo, this situation is blamed on complacency. His view is also cited in a study done by a team of policy researchers commissioned by Novartis, the health care company that launched fixed-dose artemisinin-based combination therapies. The researchers explained that the decrease in incidence of malaria has made people complacent to the extent that they have abandoned use of preventive mechanisms like bed nets. However, Uganda last year completed a free net distribution campaign called CHASE where it’s said over 80% of the population was covered even in Kampala.
Opigo says they are now reviewing the CHASE MALARIA campaign with the aim of deepening it especially focusing on individual behavior and community response. Other stakeholders like Dr. Nathan Mulure of Norvartis says policy makers need new tools to fight infection that put into account issues that are leading to a rebound in infection. His company is currently conducting trials for a new malaria drug with issues of resistance to some malaria drugs arising.
At policy level, Opigo says they have responded by changing the malaria policy to provide for stratification of the country according to the situation so that appropriate interventions are deployed to each area instead of one size fits all.
Previously, government has used interventions like Indoor Residual Spraying in high prevalence areas of Northern Uganda only to see a rebound of severe forms of the disease in these areas in 2015 and 2016.
*****
URN
