Since 2008, the global community comes together to commemorate World Malaria Day on April 25. World Malaria Day was established by WHO Member states.
In this regard, EDAN Community Development Uganda wishes to recognise and join the entire world to congratulate the government of Uganda upon the tremendous efforts towards malaria prevention and cure that has seen its prevalence reduce to 19 per cent.
According to the “Uganda Malaria Indicator Survey 2014-15” (UMIS), the national malaria prevalence has dropped from 42 per cent in 2009 to 19 per cent in 2015. Dr Jacinto Amandua, the commissioner clinical services at the Ministry of Health, attributed the sharp fall in malaria prevalence rates to government interventions like scaling up treatment services, distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and indoor residual spraying (IRS).
However, Global indicators still show a heavy malaria burden across the globe: 78 per cent of people who die from malaria are children under five, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa, 90 per cent of deaths occur in sub-Sahara Africa, In 2015, 97 countries and territories had ongoing malaria transmission, In 2015 an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide, In 2015, an estimated 438,000 deaths were reported and an estimated 3.3 billion people are at risk of getting malaria.
Despite malaria remaining the number one killer disease in the country, ECDU wishes to state that with more community-lead approaches, malaria can be eliminated. We thus encourage our communities to continuously undertake sustainable preventive measures like: ensuring perfect sanitation levels around our homes thus eliminate possible breeding places for mosquitoes, regular use of mosquito nets, embrace government-led programmes like indoor spraying, and in worst cases, run to the nearest health facility for immediate treatment.
Edmund Atusasire,
atusasireedmund@gmail.com
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