Vision Reporter
28 February 2008
Kampala — A person who stays in Apac district for a year without sleeping under a mosquito net gets over 1,600 bites from an anopheles mosquito, the district health officer, Mathew Emer, has said.
"You cannot come to Apac and not sleep under a mosquito net. The district has been severely hit by malaria," Emer told officials from the Uganda Red Cross Society on Monday.
The Red Cross distributed 2,000 mosquito nets in eight sub-counties of Apac and Oyam districts.
The beneficiaries were pregnant women, children below five years of age and people living with HIV/AIDS.
Emer said malaria was responsible for 11% of the deaths in the area. "Less than 40% of the households in Apac have treated mosquito nets," he added.
Apac has a population of about 496,000 people.
The nets given out in Apac were part of the 14,500 donated by the World Swim for Malaria Foundation, a UK-based charity.
The other nets will be distributed in Arua, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Kitgum, Pader and Nakulabye in Kampala.
The Apac Red Cross chairperson, Prosper Byonanebye, handed over the nets to the beneficiaries.
Emer said indoor residual spraying was starting soon, adding that 63% of the children under five years can access the Homepack malaria treatment.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
we should always promote african culture in all possible means possible