By Sophan Niwamanya
apearlnews.com
A total of 8 people in Kabale district succumbed to malaria in the last financial year despite several interventions by the ministry of health to contain the spread of malaria.
According to the Kabale Acting district officer Alfred Besigensi, 470302 suspected malaria patients visited health facilities for malaria screening and 4962 people turned positive for malaria, and out of the positives, 8 people died.
Besigensi attributed the death of 8 people to delays in seeking health care services in health facilities and failure to effectively embrace the strategies that the government has put to contain the spread of malaria in the district.
He said that some people did not embrace the use of treated mosquito nets which is a setback in the fight against malaria in the district. Besigensi appealed to the general public to continue embracing sleeping under treated mosquito nets, draining stagnant water from near their homes, cutting down the bushes around their homes, and closing all inlets to their houses when it is still early to stop mosquitoes from entering in their houses at night.
In June, 2020, the ministry of health launched a larvicide intervention campaign, a strategy aimed at combating the spread of malaria disease in Uganda. The campaign was launched in Butanda Sub County in Kabale district in addition to the distribution of treated mosquito nets. Larviciding intervention involves application of the drug that kills mosquito vectors in breeding places like swamps such that when the vector steps or feeds on a glass that is sprayed with the medicine dies
