Serere District Local Government is undertaking the District Led Malaria Response Survey aimed at reducing malaria infections among the communities in the district. The survey spearheaded by the Ministry of Health started early in October 2023 and is expected to end in November.
The survey is a result of the malaria high burden that has persisted in the district for years despite different government interventions including the distribution of treated mosquito nets and Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) in fighting the disease.
According to the Serere Acting District Health Officer (DHO), Dr. Daniel Ogwal, six out of every 10 patients tested for malaria turn positive across most health facilities in the district.
Dr. Ogwal says the survey will be conducted in the 30 most affected villages in the six sub-counties selected across the district. He adds that the team will be conducting environmental assessment in the selected villages while testing and treating people infected with malaria to be able to understand why the disease has persisted in the district.
Dr. Ogwal revealed that preliminary findings indicate that some of the people infected with malaria don’t seek proper medical attention whenever they fall sick but rather do self-medication.
He, however, notes that while the malaria burden is high in the district, very few deaths related to malaria are reported.
Serere district received the recent batch of treated mosquito nets in June 2023. The district with more than 450,000 has had at least three phases of Indoor Residual Spray-IRS with support from the Ministry of Health in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development- USAID. The district is surrounded by Lake Kyoga, whose banks have continued to burst, giving room for mosquitoes to breed.
The District Led Malaria Response Survey follows another assessment conducted by scientists in 2021 to establish factors responsible for high malaria prevalence in Serere district.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report of May 2023, Uganda has the world’s highest malaria incidence rate of 478 cases per 1,000 populations per year. It is also the leading cause of sickness and death in the country and is responsible for up to 40 percent of all outpatient visits, 25 percent of hospital admissions, and 14 percent of all hospital deaths.
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