Government to distribute 27 million mosquito nets countrywide

The ministry of Health has officially flagged off the distribution of 27 million mosquito nets to 25 districts that have been greatly affected by malaria during this period.

While launching the programme at the National Medical Stores warehouse in Entebbe, Dr. Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary in the ministry of health said these districts have been selected basing on the disease burden in those areas.

“We will be distributing over 27,000,000 nets to all districts in Uganda. We expect to complete this exercise by the end of this calendar year.We are starting with districts that were affected by flooding in the Eastern region and those, most especially in northern Uganda, that have recorded higher cases of malaria,”she said.

She said the ministry has developed ICT capacity to account for every single mosquito net given to every single household through a robust mobile phone reporting system.

She also noted that for all batches delivered to districts and down to sub counties, a detailed message will be sent to key stakeholders from national to local area level for follow up.

“We want the LC1 officials this time to be very active because they have registered homes and they know the people and so they will be working together with our teams to make sure that everyone gets a mosquito net and they will be moving from house to house,”she said.

She said that the ministry is going to equip its team that are in the field carrying out the distribution exercise with enough protective gear to protect them against Covid-19.

The assistant commissioner in charge of Malaria Control Programme in the ministry of Health, Dr. Jimmy Opigo said that Uganda still registers malaria deaths on a daily basis.

He noted that the most affected areas are Karamoja and West Nile sub regions.

He attributed the increase in malaria prevalence in these regions to floods caused due to heavy downpour.

Moses Kamabare, the general manager of the National Medical Stores appreciated the contribution towards the fight against malaria in the country.

He noted that everything is in place to ensure that the exercise is done successfully highlighting use of e system to monitor the progress.

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