Hundreds miss government mosquito nets in Buliisa
Ten bales of mosquito nets went missing in Kihungya Sub County and one went missing in Biiso Sub County, thus losing 440 mosquito nets before the distribution dates.
By Innocent Atuganyira
Buliisa: At least 36,000 people in Buliisa district missed the government mosquito nets, which were recently distributed by the Ministry of Health as part of the government’s latest malaria control approach.
In July this year, the Ugandan government, with support from the Global Fund and the Action Against Malaria Foundation, embarked on a nationwide distribution of 28.5 million mosquito nets to slash malaria, morbidity, and mortality.
Dr. Robert Mugabe, the District Health Educator (DHE) Buliisa, told this publication Wednesday evening that they received a smaller number of mosquito nets from the Ministry of Health than the projected number.
According to Mugabe, they had a gap of 18,000 mosquito nets, so 36,000 people missed. He also stressed that some people complained of receiving fewer mosquito nets and thus insisted that it wasn’t their intention, but they distributed what was delivered from the ministry of health.
He also said that ten bales of mosquito nets went missing in Kihungya Sub County and one went missing in Biiso Sub County, thus losing 440 mosquito nets before the distribution dates. Each bale contains 40 mosquito nets.
The health educator stresses that currently they don’t have hope of receiving other mosquito nets within the shortest time to serve the people who missed them, unless otherwise stated.
”Currently, we don’t have hope of receiving other mosquito nets within the shortest time to serve the people who missed them, unless other organizations improvise,’’ he added.
Dr. Mugabe asserted that they are now looking at the post-effects of the distribution and use of mosquito nets. He said they have discovered that people have started misusing the mosquito nets, citing an example of a woman she found early this week using the newly distributed mosquito net to trap white ants.
‘’Early this week, when I was driving to the field, I found a woman using the newly distributed government mosquito net to trap white ants. We also registered cases of side effects from people who used the nets before spreading them in the shade,’’ he added.
The health officer also advised the public to make good use of the mosquito nets and desist from using them for other purposes like fishing, building, shielding trees from domestic animals, birds from prey, or using them as wedding gowns.
Dr. Mugabe said that the issue of the stolen bale of mosquito nets is being investigated by the police. ‘’The issue of the missing bale of mosquito nets is being investigated by the police,’’ he added.
Buliisa district received 69,560 mosquito nets from the Ministry of Health, and distribution was done at the parish level.
During the distribution of the nets, residents of Nyalwera village in Nyeramya Parish, Kihungya, Sub-County, demonstrated the inadequacy of the nets.
Fred Kwesiga blamed the officials for failing to exhibit transparency in the distribution, noting that the government opted to distribute mosquito nets to reduce the cases of malaria and the expense of procuring drugs, but they are disappointed since officials are not transparent in the exercise.
Benson Ambe Kurach and Abdul Majid Aheebwa, the Nyalwera Village Health Teams (VHT), told ugreports.com that they registered 255 households, but to their dismay, they were only given 6 bales of mosquito nets, which is equivalent to 240 pieces of mosquito nets.
The Nyalwera LC1 chairperson, Ms. Moreen Kwesiga, urged the district leadership to intervene in the issue, asserting that in most cases, her village doesn’t benefit from government programs.
Kenneth Tumusiime, the chairperson of LC3 Kihungya Sub County, blamed the district health officials for using the previous projections.
According to Tumusiime, they would have involved the village chairpersons and the VHTs in registering the families instead of using the previous projection, noting that there is an increase in the population.
‘’Residents are right to reject the government mosquito nets because you can’t disburse them before getting the actual number of homes; you can’t disburse six bales of nets to the entire village,’’ he said.
According to the WHO, Uganda is ranked third in global malaria burden with over 12 million cases reported annually, meaning for every ten sick people in Uganda, three are afflicted by malaria.
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