COMMENTARY
Malaria in new areas requires fresh eradication strategy
Malaria mosquitoes do not breed above 1,500-2,000 metres and this knowledge has made large tracts of mountainous sub-Saharan Africa to be regarded non-malarial zones. It is against this backdrop that not many people have been able to establish the remote linkage between global warming, climate change and the escalating spread of malaria.
But as temperatures rise, the WHO’s prediction that more land would come under threat has become a fact. Malaria cases are nowadays reported from remote towns and villages in Uganda on account of the global warming regime.
What many of us learnt about Ankole region during geography lesson in primary school days i.e. terracing on the hill slopes, has suddenly now added to its geography lesson menu – shaded areas of malaria prevalence in Uganda. It is bizarre to find the residents of Ankole these days dealing with a disease that until recently was the preserve of the warmer corners of Uganda such as Nebbi, Soroti, Oyam, and Amolatar.
Nonetheless, the Museveni administration has confronted malaria without lying down. It removed user fees at public health facilities; it has deployed a multi-thronged information and education strategy to targeted vulnerable communities; and indeed incrementally increased funding allocation to the health sector to combat the diseases including malaria that prevent children enjoying their fifth birthdays.
The impact of malaria is felt most in the agriculture, education and health sectors of Uganda’s economy. In agriculture, farmers are bed-ridden for most part of the growing season and lose out to wild animals such as baboons and monkeys on account of lack of tending their gardens.
Malaria is a leading cause of absenteeism in the primary education sector and strains the health sector resources given the surges in reporting malarial cases at the country’s health centres and hospitals. But of course the surging trend in malaria prevalence is exacerbated by other contributing factors such as political strife, poor cultural practices and lack of seriousness on the part of the population in preventive measures against malaria, migrant labourers moving from malarial zones, environmental degrading, especially the slash and burn practices of the peasant farmers.
Recently, brewers of a local drink have been reported to have used treated mosquito nets for sieving a popular drink called kwete in mainly Luo communities such as Alur in Nebbi and Zuobo districts as well as in the Acholiland.
The Draft National Development Plan, whose formulation is being spearheaded by the National Planning Authority, has articulated that negative cultural practices are among the underlying causes of poor health seeking behaviour in Uganda. Indeed, these practices undermine the very fundamentals by the government in the fight against the dreaded malaria.
The foregoing aside, of all the amazing advances in medical science, malaria is one of those diseases that has flatly refused to go away. While other major-league killers such as smallpox and yellow fever have given-in, the magic bullet to confront malaria the world over, remains elusive. Now global warning adds to its complexity and indeed demands for a new strategy.
All the same, there is a new and dedicated effort to confront malaria through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in partnership with the GlaxoSmithKline. Under the well funded Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (Path MVI), trials have singled out seven Sub-Saharan African countries including our neighbouring Kenya to establish effectiveness of the vaccine in causing immunity to its prey - humans.
This is a significant development that may result into achieving the Millennium Development Goal, where Malaria is a deterrent, much faster.
Dr Odoch is a Member of Daily Monitor Panel of Experts
gstarinternational@yahoo.com
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