Uganda

    Country Statistics

    Malaria Consortium in Uganda 

    Activities 

    Projects currently undertaken in Uganda 

    Country Progress
                                        

Country Statistics

Population size (2009)	32.7 million
Life expectancy (2005)	49.7 years
Child Mortality (Deaths Before the Age of 5) (2007)	130 per 1,000 live births
Maternal Mortality (2005)	550 per 100,000 births
Percentage of HIV-positive adults (15-49) (2007)	5.4%
Percentage of households with ≥ 1 mosquito nets (2007)	34%
Percentage of Insecticide Treated Net Coverage (2006)	12.8%
Number of reported malaria cases (2007)	12,792,759
Number of reported malaria deaths (2007)	47,000
Incidence of all forms of TB  (2007)	330 new cases per 100,000 population per year
Prevalence of all forms of TB  (2007)	426 per 100,000 people
Number of all forms of TB deaths (2007)	29,000

 

Statistical data obtained from DESA, UNDP, UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO

Malaria Consortium in Uganda

Uganda has the third highest deaths from malaria in Africa and some of the highest recorded malaria transmission rates in the continent, particularly in the areas around Lake Kyoga in central Uganda, where Malaria Consortium is working on various initiatives.  On average, a person in Apac district near Lake Kyoga would receive more than 1,500 infectious bites per year.  This creates a heavy burden upon the health system, with malaria accounting for approximately 30%-50% of outpatient care, 15%-20% of admissions and 9%-14% of inpatient deaths.

In an effort to reduce the burden of malaria, Malaria Consortium has continued to strengthen and broaden the scope of its operations in Uganda.  Additional offices have been established in West Nile and Karamoja, which are two of the most remote parts of Uganda and score the lowest in many key health and development indicators.  Malaria Consortium now operates in almost every district in the country.
 
Uganda is among the 20 highest-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries and therefore in addition to malaria treatment, Malaria Consortium has expanded its portfolio of TB control activities in Uganda.  Building on experience gained in Northern Uganda, Malaria Consortium began a new TB control project in the relatively neglected Karamoja region.  Malaria Consortium is now planning to expand this programme to also address challenges relating to water, sanitation and hygiene in addition to wider health system issues.
 
Malaria Consortium has also been involved in emergency response work, through the distribution of non-food item kits to populations affected by natural disasters.

Please visit our issue specific resource pages on malaria , childhood illnesses and neglected tropical diseases

Activities

Malaria Consortium works in Uganda with the Ministry of Health (MoH) at national and district levels alongside its work with civil society organisations and local communities to reduce the burden of malaria, TB and neglected tropical diseases.

In relation to malaria organisational activities include health system strengthening, malaria prevention, diagnostics, case management and advocacy:

Health System Strengthening

Malaria Consortium works with the Ugandan MOH at national and district levels to strengthen the health system so it can be more responsive to the population’s needs.  Health system strengthening increases access to and quality of communicable disease interventions, especially benefitting vulnerable populations.  This work is essential for the emergence of a sustainable health system and the effective scaling up of malaria control interventions.

Health system strengthening involves a number of focus areas;

• further development
• supply chain management of prevention and treatment commodities
• support for district health teams
• introduction of health management information systems
• capacity building and skills training for human resources.  

Malaria Prevention

Malaria Consortium’s prevention activities in Uganda aim to rapidly increase coverage of life-saving interventions that have a dramatic impact upon the burden of malaria.  Activities include promoting behavioural change and informing families on malaria prevention and protection through supporting community initiatives such as Information Education and Communication and Behaviour Change Communication programmes.  Malaria Consortium is also involved in the distribution of long lasting insecticide treated nets through campaigns and health facilities.

Diagnostics

Malaria Consortium works closely with the MOH and National Malaria Control Programme to improve malaria diagnostics in Uganda.  Using participatory operational research, Malaria Consortium has contributed to the adoption of an evidence-based approach to scaling up parasitological-based diagnosis of malaria.  Malaria Consortium has also facilitated the National Malaria Control Programme’s policy development on diagnosis and case management of malaria as well as being an active partner in the MOH’s rapid diagnostic test implementations technical working group.

Case Management

Malaria Consortium has facilitated the National Malaria Control Programme’s policy development on diagnosis and case management.  In collaboration with their partners, Malaria Consortium is involved in evaluating both severe malaria case management (particularly in underserved regions) and outpatient malaria case management under Ugandan national ACT treatment policy.

Malaria Consortium has also conducted a randomised trial in Uganda of fluid resuscitation strategies in children with severe febrile illness and clinical evidence of  circulation problems provoked by malaria.

Operational research

In relation to TB in Uganda, Malaria Consortium aims to enhance TB control services in emergency prone Northern Uganda and Karamoja regions to help reduce the mortality and morbidity resulting from TB.

In its work to reduce the burden of communicable diseases in Uganda, Malaria Consortium participates in a communicable disease research programme, COMDIS (www.COMDIS.org).

Current activities under this project include:

• Control of malaria and other mosquito-borne infections through LLINs in Apac and Lira Districts, Uganda;
• Research into the effectiveness of rapid diagnostic tests in diagnosis of malaria in pregnant women in Uganda;
• A trial to compare treatment adherence to new forms of packaging for Coartem® ACTs in Uganda, as part of efforts to improve the user-friendliness of the drugs for health professionals;
• A case study on the implementation of new malaria diagnosis techniques based on discovering malaria parasites.

Advocacy

Malaria Consortium’s advocacy activities aim to increase awareness and commitment to malaria, influence policy change at national and district levels, sustain malaria funding and build the capacity of civil society organisations.

Projects currently undertaken in Uganda

Project Title	Funding Organisation
FEAST- Fluid Expansion As Supportive Therapy	KEMRI, Imperial College London
TB	Irish Aid
HEALTH SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING	Irish Aid
STOP MALARIA	USAID
MALARIA COMMUNITIES PARTNERSHIP PROJECT	PMI/USAID

 

Country Progress

With a total of 2.2 million nets handed out in 2008, the proportion of Long-Lasting Insecticidal Net (LLIN) coverage has now reached an estimated 84%. Malaria Consortium has been involved in the distribution of about 36% of these nets (42% of all free net deliveries).