Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa has urged the Ministry of Health to develop a comprehensive strategy for countrywide mosquito spraying to combat malaria. This call to action comes as Uganda ranks third globally in malaria burden and fifth in malaria deaths, with 12 million cases reported annually.
“I want you (Minister of Health, Dr. Ruth Aceng) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to reconcile your positions on spraying because countries which have eliminated malaria have sprayed. We don’t need to go and invent the wheel, let us make a decision as a country that we are going to spray and we Parliament, we shall give you that money to spray. Because a person from Mitooma doesn’t know your negotiations and politics of you disagreeing with WHO, they don’t even know WHO though it is our biggest partner, what they want is eliminating malaria,” said Tayebwa.
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Tayebwa emphasized the need for decisive action, citing successful examples of malaria elimination through spraying in neighboring countries like Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania. “The other time, Parliament said we can’t spray, now this is a new Parliament, we are going to take charge. We are going to push it on the floor, we shall provide the money and Parliament will not interfere as long as you feel that is the right thing to do. If Rwanda has sprayed, if Kenya has sprayed, if Tanzania has sprayed and malaria has gone, you scientists, agree with each other,” added Tayebwa.
The Deputy Speaker also urged scientists to involve communities in making strategies to fight malaria, noting that failure to do so could explain why distributed mosquito nets are being used for unintended purposes. “My major focus is on the strategy to eliminate malaria; this treatment won’t work. The treatment is so costly, the money we are spending on treating malaria is so much, and yet we are losing very many young people, we are losing our pregnant mothers. The time they are spending on treatment, the strain they are putting on our health facilities. Why aren’t we spraying?” he asked.
Tayebwa highlighted the need for community involvement, citing examples of mosquito nets being used for making ropes, squeezing juice, wedding gowns, fishing, and even looking after chicken. “We must engage with communities and make them part of the solution. We can’t win this fight alone,” he emphasized.
Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng pledged to present a nationwide malaria elimination strategy to Parliament, emphasizing the need for increased funding through locally generated resources as donor funding decreases. “Re-planning requires that we identify a safe chemical that can be used so that we can carry out the spraying and bring down this burden of Malaria and we stop putting ourselves as number three in the race against donating Malaria. As a Ministry, we shall go back and re-plan and develop the strategy and present it to Parliament. That will be after presenting it to the Cabinet because it has to start from the top,” said Aceng.
“We are very much aware that funding for malaria is levelling off from all our partners. Recently, when they called a meeting from the 10+1 countries, which are the countries with the heaviest burden of malaria in the world, and Uganda is number 3 in donating, following Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo, we are number 3. In the conference, we all signed a commitment to end malaria in our own countries using our own domestic resources. It is for Uganda to mobilize its own domestic resources to end malaria,” added Dr. Aceng.
The Malaria Walk in Kampala served as a poignant reminder of the devastating impact of malaria on Ugandans. Tayebwa’s call to action and Dr. Aceng’s commitment offer hope for a malaria-free future, as Uganda takes charge of its health destiny.
