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Help Suubi clinic beat malaria in Uganda. Prevent malaria in Villages ,Your gifts assist will Suubi clinics in Uganda –East Africa to cover the medical costs for patients who are too poor to pay
Suubi medical clinic has got here bellow some information about Malaria released by the ministry of health in Uganda. Have a look at what impact malaria has on Uganda.
Before we can appreciate the need for all of us to join in the fight against malaria, we first need to appreciate economic and socio-cultural consequences malaria has in the whole of Uganda as a country.
In Uganda, malaria has historically been a very serious health problem and currently poses the most significant threat to the health of the population. Malaria currently accounts for:
* 25-40% of all outpatients' visits at health facilities
* 20% of hospital admissions
* 9-14% of in-patients deaths
* A case-fatality rate of 3-5% (which is an under-estimate)
* 23.4% of total discounted life years lost
* 23% and 11% of deaths among the under 5s in high and medium malaria transmission areas respectively
In pregnancy, malaria may cause:
*Maternal anaemia (particularly in prime gravidae)
*Intra-uterine growth retardation
*Premature births
*Low-weight babies which is the principal contributor to infant mortality
*Still births
*Abortions/miscarriages - Malaria is responsible for nearly 60% of miscarriages.
pregnant women are 4 times as likely to suffer malaria attacks during pregnancy than when not pregnant.
Economic Impact of Malaria in Uganda:
Malaria does not only cause ill health and death but also has a great impact on the economic development of the individual, the family, the community and the nation as a whole in several ways:
*Direct costs in form of treatment, treatment seeking and funeral expenses
*Expenditure on treatment and prevention. A poor malaria-stricken family may spend up to 25% of its income on malaria treatment and prevention.
*By affecting families most during the rainy season when families least afford to be sick, malaria interferes with their farm activities thus causing poverty in families.
*Loss of household incomes through absenteeism from work. It is estimated that workers suffering from a malaria bout can be incapacitated for 5-20 days. A study in Apac, Kampala and Rukungiri Districts showed that malaria was responsible for 54%, 33% and 50% respectively of absenteeism from work per month in the above districts. On the average, 7 working days (range 4-9 days) were lost per malaria episode.
*Household surveys in Kabarole and Bundibugyo Districts showed that the direct cost of treatment for an episode of suspected malaria averages 4,500 Ug. Shs. (4.10 US$) in urban settings and 2,000 Ug. Shs. (1.80 US$) in rural populations.
*Assuming that 50% of the 4,200,000 children under 5 years old currently in Uganda suffer an average of 6 episodes annually and are treated in health facilities at 2,000/= per episode, then Ugandans are spending (50/100 x 4,200,000 x 6 x 2,000) = 25,200,000,000/= annually for malaria treatment of the under 5s only!
This does not include other expenses incurred, such as:
*Transport expenses while seeking treatment
*Treatment of adults and children over 5 years old
*Treatment of adults and children admitted in health facilities
*The higher costs of treating the under 5s and other family members in private clinics and urban areas
*Chloroquine failures which require more expensive drugs
*Funeral expenses for children and adults who die
*Aerosol sprays, mosquito coils, mosquito nets and other mosquito control expenses.
Burdening the health services.
It is estimated that 40% of health facility expenditures in sub-Saharan Africa are spent on malaria treatment.
In industry and agricultural enterprises like tea, sugarcane, coffee, rice, tobacco estates, malaria accounts for the greatest number of man-hours lost, which may be up to or more than 50% of all the man-hours lost. This affects production and revenue for the industry, families and the nation as well.
Loss of investment funds thus affecting the economy of Uganda. It is known that investors are not much interested in investing in countries where most of their profits will be eroded through absenteeism from work due to malaria and on treatment of malaria infected workforce.
Socio-Cultural Impact of Malaria in Uganda:
Malaria has also serious socio-cultural consequences in families by:
*Affecting families most during the rainy season, thus interfering with farm activities in the rainy season. It is estimated that malaria afflicted families on the average can harvest only 40% of the crops harvested by healthy families
*Causing absenteeism from school and thus affecting school performance. It is estimated that in endemic areas like Uganda, malaria may impair as much as 60% of the schoolchildren's learning ability.
Causing epidemics in highland areas of the country with high disease burden and socio-cultural consequences as occurred in 1998
In industry and agricultural enterprises like tea, sugarcane, coffee, rice, tobacco estates, malaria accounts for the greatest number of man-hours lost, which may be up to or more than 50% of all the man-hours lost. This affects production and revenue for the industry, families and the nation as well
Loss of investment funds thus affecting the economy of Uganda. It is known that investors are not much interested in investing in countries where most of their profits will be eroded through absenteeism from work due to malaria and on treatment of malaria infected workforce.
In industry and agricultural enterprises like tea, sugarcane, coffee, rice, tobacco estates, malaria accounts for the greatest number of man-hours lost, which may be up to or more than 50% of all the man-hours lost.
This affects production and revenue for the industry, families and the nation as well
Loss of investment funds thus affecting the economy of Uganda. It is known that investors are not much interested in investing in countries where most of their profits will be eroded through absenteeism from work due to malaria and on treatment of malaria infected workforce.
Frequent illness or deaths of children due to malaria can lead to misunderstandings within families (especially polygamous families) and between families. Those with sickly children or children dying often are likely to accuse others whose children do not fall or die often (probably because they are using protective measures such as insecticide treated nets/curtains) of bewitching their children this will lead to hated within and between families.
Malaria is therefore a leading cause not only of ill health and death in Uganda but also of poverty in the country.
Controlling malaria is therefore, one way of improving human development and fighting poverty in Uganda.
Public Health Impact of Malaria in Children under 5 Years Old
*Malaria is the main killer of our children.
*Malaria specific death rate among the under 5s is 37/1,000 and 18/1,000 in high and low malaria endemic areas in Uganda respectively, which translates to about 70,000-110,000 child deaths annually
*With acute disease a child may die within 24 hours.
*Malaria kills children often in combination with other diseases.
Malaria also causes:
Childhood anaemia
Reduced growth (stunting)
Mental retardation
An average of 6 episodes of malaria each year
Severe malarial anaemia resulting in a case fatality rate of 8-25% among paediatric admissions
Up to 70% of out-patient attendances and over 50% of in-patient admissions in the under 5s.
NOTE:< Malaria transmission is increasing in Uganda due to deforestation, cultivation of wetlands, poor environmental sanitation, other man made breeding sites such as construction works, brick pits or fish ponds, etc., all of which create Anopheles mosquito breeding sites. Global warming in association with wetland reclamation may also have contributed to the changes in malaria epidemiology in the highlands of south-western Uganda.
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