The Ministry of health under malaria control program has started the processes of distribution of treated insecticide mosquito nets to individuals at household level in West Nile Region, beginning with Moyo district.
Uganda government through Ministry of Health are distributing 27 million mosquito nets. This is to prevent malaria infections as a result of floods in Madi sub region.
Dr Jimmy Opigo, the assistant commissioner in charge of health services and malaria control program in the ministry of health while addressing district and sub county leaders im Moyo on Thursday said the planned distribution was a directive from president Museveni following the request of the leaders in the sub region.
He said district leaders anticipated an increase in malaria cases due to the onset of floods in the area.
“We had intended to be here next year but the leaders demanded that people cannot have Christmas when there is a lot of flooding and mosquitoes are also multiplying. Due to the floods some of the people have been displaced and in the next 2-3 weeks, the situation will worsen in terms of mosquito bites”, Opigo noted.
He assured the population that high quality mosquito nets will be distributed to protect their lives.
Mr Emmanuel Obal, the distribution team leader from the ministry of health said there will be door to door registration and distribution of the nets to the beneficiary population across the district.
Moyo district has been allocated a total of 65,920 pieces of nets to be given to each household in the district.
Mr Emmanuel Bada, the district youth councilor called for affirmative action regarding the usage of the nets, he said many times the government spends billions of money in buying mosquito nets but they end up being misused by the beneficiaries.
Ms Nusur Odea, the female district councilor for Lefori Sub County added that there should be community sensitization about the usage of the nets; she revealed that children in villages in Lefori are not sleeping under mosquito nets because their parents take them away.
Mr William Bob Labeja, the Moyo resident district commissioner called for commitment and hard work during the exercise to ensure none is left behind during the distribution in the district. He said despite it being a political period, government programs must proceed as planned.
According to the ministry of health, the government will be distributing treated mosquito nets to each household every 3 years. Mosquito nets were last distributed in the district in 2018.
