By Gideon Tumwijukye.
KABALE: Officials in Kabale district have expressed concern over the growing cases of malaria in the district. Malaria is an acute febrile illness caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are spread to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable.
According to Alfred Besigensi, the Kabale district Health Educator, the district noted a 10% rise in malaria cases with central division, southern division and Butanda Sub-counties recording high number of malaria cases in the last six weeks.
Besigensi attributes high prevalence rate in those sub-counties to receive many people from difrent regions like the municipality and Butanda being a boarder subcounty also receives many people from the neighboring country.
Besigensi have called upon people to embrass preventive strategies like sleeping under treated mosquito nets, seeking early treatment from health facilities among others.
He was speaking on Friday 17th February 2023 in a district malaria taskforce meeting that was heald in the district board room at district headquarter Makanga.
Speaking in the same meeting, the Kabale district Deputy Resident Commissioner Ronald Bakak, asked the district health authority make awareness for people to utilize malaria drugs.
Malaria remains the second killer disease among children under five, claiming 42 children daily and 1,095 annually according to the Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2011.
Uganda is still not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal on child mortality, with malaria contributing 13% of the under-five mortality.
