Former Vice President, Dr.Specioza Wandera Kazibwe who is also the senior presidential advisor on population and health has in collaboration with Busoga Health Forum (BHF) has started engaging Busoga clan leaders in an initiative to end malaria.
Dr. Kazibwe says a number of people in Busoga carry the malaria virus and she says it's better to kill the mosquitoes by spraying instead of using mosquito nets .
"The reason for intensifying this program is because we have looked at all the interventions that have been done like use of bed mosquito nets and there has not been good results. What we are going to do as clans in Busoga is to enable them to support us by going down and sensitizing our people," Dr. Kazibwe said.
She was on Sunday meeting with the clan leaders of "Baise Njiya" clan at her home village in Budwege, Bulamagi Sub County in Iganga district.
She said the initiative will start with Iganga district as a smart malaria district before extending the model to other districts in Busoga sub region.
Dr. Kazibwe says they will entrust and train the clan leaders to spread the message by enabling them to support the model given the fact that clans are powerful entities in Busoga.
"Research has shown that when you work with the traditional societies, cultures or clan, you are able to sustain the program even when donor support goes away. When the community is directly involved in any program, it becomes easy to implement it," Dr. Kazibwe said.
The minister for culture in Busoga Kingdom Richard Fredrick Mafumo says clan leaders are key in preserving culture since they directly interact with subjects who always obey them and urged them to sensitize people in the campaign to fight malaria in communities.
"Our clans are so responsible for preserving culture since they are directly down to the clan members. We urge all clan leaders to sensitize people in every meeting whenever given opportunity to communicate since malaria is very dangerous and kills in the shortest time if not handled early," Mr. Mafumo said.
The chief executive officer Busoga Health Forum Moses Kyangwa says their target is to spread and treat malaria starting with Iganga district before covering other districts in Busoga.
