Uganda commemorated World Malaria Day (WMD) under the global theme Zero Malaria Status Starts with me. The commemoration was held in Alebtong District with a message to the population to make the elimination of Malaria everyone’s responsibility. The global theme was home grounded and adapted as “It’s a household war, Chase Malaria to Zero” and the slogan as “Prevent the Bite”.

The general public was further advised to sleep under Insecticide Treated Mosquito nets every night, clear bushes, broken containers and stagnant water which are breeding sites for mosquitoes, especially in the rainy season. They were also implored to seek testing services from health facilities, 24 hours from onset of symptoms and adhere to the treatment given by the doctor as well as completing the dose given.

Dr Michael Bukenya, the chair of the Health Committee of Parliament represented the Rt Hon Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, as a guest of honour. He said that malaria remains a daily threat to the entire population. “Our climatic conditions favour mosquito breeding allowing for all year transmission of malaria,” he noted.

Hon Bukenya added that Malaria is responsible for poor pregnancy and birth outcomes, ill health, poor cognition amongst school children, loss of productivity and huge financial expenditure for both the families and the government. “All these factors hold back economic growth of our country,” he said.

The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, began with a plea to the communities to get involved in the fight against malaria. “l call upon all Ugandans, male and female, young and old, household heads, LC1 chairpersons, parish chiefs, to join efforts in pursuit of a Malaria-Free Uganda,” she said.

Dr Aceng further highlighted the current efforts in Uganda through the Mass Action Against Malaria (MAAM) initiative which is a renewed effort towards sustaining the gains achieved in reducing the Malaria burden through a comprehensive effort focusing on everybody at individual, household, community, district, national and global levels.

The World Health Organization was represented by the National Professional Officer at the WHO Country Office, Dr Charles Katureebe who shared the remarks of the WHO Regional Director saying the theme for this year’s commemoration of WMD stresses the need to empower individuals to make personal commitments to saving more lives, and help communities and economies to thrive through eliminating malaria.

He further said that empowering individuals and communities and engaging them to adopt and deploy simple and cost-effective interventions is key in filling existing implementation gaps. He emphasized the need to embrace the High Burden High Impact initiative which underscores the need for increased political commitments, use of strategic information to guide interventions, use of evidence-based policies and coordinated response.

Through the MAAM initiative, Uganda is prioritizing the household and the grassroots levels as the most appropriate avenue for Malaria prevention and control. The target is to reach every household with messages on malaria prevention and management and induce household desired behaviours.

In Uganda, Malaria is everyone’s business requiring mass action at all levels by all stakeholders including households and communities. Under the MAAM, the target is to attain a Malaria-Free Uganda by 2030.

The MAAM strategy also aims to reach every household with a comprehensive package for Malaria control and prevention measures thereby reaching out to over 40 million Ugandans that are at risk of Malaria and 7.5 million households spreading out in all the 128 districts of Uganda.

Uganda has continued to make tremendous strides towards achieving a Malaria-free nation by reducing Malaria prevalence from 42% in 2009 to 19% in 2014. The steady reduction of cases is still seen in the continued reduction of Malaria cases and deaths in health facilities as seen in the Health Management Information System.

To respond to the challenge of rising cases in high-burden countries and reverse these trends, a ‘high burden to high impact’ (HBHI) country-led approach was launched in November 2018. Supported by WHO and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the response seeks to stimulate political will nationally and globally to reduce malaria deaths. It will also use strategic information to drive impact and implement the best global guidance, policies and strategies for malaria-endemic countries, as well as coordinated country responses.

The WMD was climaxed by the guest of honour inaugurating the District MAAM Task Forces which are chaired by Resident District Commissioners in their respective districts. It also involved a series of activities including music, dance and drama performances from community groups, schools and local musicians about malaria prevention, diagnosis, treatment and elimination.