The Deputy Resident District Commissioner of Namayingo district, Trevor Solomon Baleke has warned residents to desist from misusing mosquito nets, something he said was the major cause of high cases of malaria in Busoga region.
The Deputy RDC made the remarks on Thursday August 31, 2023 while chairing the District Task Force on malaria meeting for Namayingo at the district headquarters.
He was addressing the team including officials from the ministry of health who are in Namayingo to ensure success of the ‘Under the Net Malaria Campaign’.
Earlier, the District Health Officer informed the meeting that some people use the net for capturing seasonal white ants while others use them for fishing.
“It is not only ignorance but also an offence to cut or misuse a mosquito net and to reject using it. Therefore I urge the political leadership to embark on mobilization of our people as the DHO and your team does sensitization then the security team led by the RDC’s office shall do enforcement. Once we find anyone misusing a mosquito net, we shall apply force,” warned Baleke.
And those sects that prohibit their followers from participating in government programs like immunization and registration for mosquito nets, I am informing them that they have no place in Namayingo. We are watching and whoever shall stop anybody from embracing this camping is most likely to face the law,” he added.
Currently the training of trainers for the enrollment of residents to receive and use the treated mosquito nets is ongoing ahead of the registration exercise scheduled for September 6 – 7, 2023. Distribution of the nets shall be done by VHTs at village level between September 8 and 9, 2023 as the government steps up efforts to curb malaria cases.
During this year’s Under the Net Malaria Campaign, the government will distribute up to 28.5 million mosquito nets targeting to have all citizens sleep under a mosquito net across the country, which has a population of about 47.25 million.
