Uganda says anti-malarial drugs donated by China to help curb epidemic

KAMPALA, April 6 (Xinhua) — Uganda has said the anti-malaria medicines worth 1.1 million U.S. dollars donated by China will greatly help curb the epidemic in the east African country.

Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said the country last year experienced an upsurge in cases of malaria, which spread to more than half of the districts across Uganda.

Aceng was speaking Friday after receiving the consignment of drugs from the Chinese Ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, at the National Medical Stores in Kajjansi, central district of Wakiso, a district in the Central Region of Uganda.

“As a country we are at high risk of malaria due to our climatic conditions. Uganda is also the 3rd highest contributor of malaria cases (5.4 percent) and 7th highest contributor of malaria deaths globally (2.9 percent),” Aceng said.

“Therefore, this generous donation of anti-malarial drugs will be helpful in the fight against malaria and control of the malaria epidemic, especially in prone areas,” the minister said.

According to the minister, the most affected populations included children, pregnant women and people who live in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

She said between 2021 and 2023, the country experienced a generalized increase in malaria cases, “with some areas surpassing the epidemic thresholds.”

“At the peak of the epidemic in July 2022, over 75 districts were reported as having a malaria epidemic. As a result, there was an increase in the demand for anti-malarial drugs,” she said.

Ambassador Zhang said the cooperation in health was one of the most important areas of cooperation in the bilateral relations of the two countries.

“This donation is also an implementation of the medical and health program among the Nine Programs initiated at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC),” Zhang said.

The Ambassador said the two countries had for long cooperated in the health sector and would continue doing the same.

Since 1983, China has dispatched 23 batches of medical teams to Uganda with 218 doctors. Hundreds of thousands of Ugandans have since been treated for various sicknesses.

Zhang said the two countries could work together to achieve digitalization in healthcare and jointly research in herbs to combat viruses.