Responding to the Malaria Situation in Uganda
By Cynthia E. Pacutho, Program Coordinator, Malaria Partners Uganda
Despite the progress made in intensifying malaria control and prevention approaches as well as aligning efforts to eliminate malaria in Uganda, the disease remains as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality rates in the country. For a country to accede efforts to reduce the burden of malaria, it is essential to create and maintain adequate surveillance system adapted to its needs in order to implement broader malaria control.
The reporting rate for the month of June 2022 was 48.3% totaling to 2,621,207 cases according to HMIS Reporting Rates. However, reporting rate ranged from 8.9% to 100% of which 75.4% of the districts had 75% reporting data. In June 2022, a total of 1,477,232 cases of malaria were treated, of these, 72,043 (4.9%) were admitted for inpatient care.
This is a 25.2% increase from May 2022 Trends in Malaria the highest for the last 1 year and 62% of OPD cases are due to Malaria on average. The burden of malaria in the OPD ranges from 2.8% to 100%. The Malaria burden was highest in south western and Eastern regions of the country.
Epidemic Response interventions by Malaria Partners Uganda
- Held weekly partner meetings to have an advocacy agenda to be shared in epidemic districts.
- Continuous monitoring of stock levels at facilities and plotting Normal Malaria Channels in all Health Facilities in affected regions.
- To have a mass blood donation drive in Busoga Region with Rotarians aimed to fight anaemia in children as we commemorate world mosquito day next month
- To conduct mortality reviews in most affected regions in partnership with NMCD and other Implementing Partners.
- Media talks and SBC integrated advocacy with community dialogues.
Reflections on our Malaria Work in Zambia – How we got here, where we go next
On September 8th, 2023, the Rotary International President Gordon McInally announced that Rotary and its partners World Vision and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be implementing the Rotary Healthy Communities Challenge which will build on the successes of the Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia project and scale that work to 3 other countries.
Strengthening Community Case-based Surveillance for Malaria in North Bank Regions of The Gambia
Malaria Partners West Africa has been engaging with PATH and The Gambia’s Ministry of Health and National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to design a new initiative aimed at strengthening community case-based surveillance for malaria in the North Bank Regions of The Gambia.
Malaria Ends With Me
By Peter Mubanga Ng’andu – Rotaract Club of Lusaka
As a Project Management & M&E professional, I believe in data driven interventions and that’s why when an opportunity to volunteer in Data Quality Audits (DQA) emerged, I gladly took it in the spirit of service above self.