On a rainy Saturday morning, the community trekked in hundreds to Bukasakya Primary School for the medical camp to be held at the Malaria project launch on 29th March 2025. Men, women and children of all ages came to be tested and treated for different ailments but most importantly malaria. Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs of Lubowa and Mbale City, together with the Rotaract Clubs of Lubowa and Mild May Institute of Health Sciences and the local partners Malaria Partners Uganda; together with Bunapongo Health Centre staff and the Village Health Teams (VHTs); all gathered to participate in the Bukasakya – Bungokho Malaria control project launch.
Members of the community and the Bunapongo medical staff welcomed the Malaria project as a great relief to the Bukasakya community which is among the most malaria affected areas in Mbale district. The numbers registered for the medical camp could tell the story! Mr. John Wambette, a resident of the Bukasakya community when asked by the Daily Monitor newspaper reporter had this to say. ‘When we go to the health centre, we are only given prescriptions and sent to buy the drugs elsewhere. Many of us can’t afford, so we turn to free herbs around our homes.’ Dr. Martin Olupot confirmed this when he said that the Health Centre facility was over stretched and frequently experienced drug shortages and that this Malaria project was a very much needed intervention. In their remarks, Rotarian Rhona Nambo Kamukama, the President of the Rotary Club of Lubowa and Rotarian Boaz Aruho Mbagaya the Vice-President of the Rotary Club of Mbale City; informed the community that the project would facilitate the Bunapongo Health Centre 111 and the Bukasakya VHTs to prevent, sensitize and treat the malaria scourge affecting most homesteads. Through Rotary, the malaria grant provided malaria rapid testing kits, the antimalarials and other drugs to reinforce the limited government supplies; and bicycles and torches to ease the VHTs outreach in the communities. They affirmed that training would also be done for the medical staff of Bunapongo HCIII and the VHTs in prevention, treatment and control of malaria in the mapped community.
A report in the Daily Monitor newspaper quoted Mr. Ronald Wegoye, a Village Health Team (VHT) member in Bungokho subcounty saying that it is the norm for most community members to rely on self-diagnosis and use of local herbs to treat fever, instead of seeking timely and proper medical interventions, which most often resulted into avoidable losses of lives. This further emphasized the need to sensitize the community on the importance of seeking proper diagnosis and proper medical attention, to prevent and treat malaria, but more-so, to reduce the malaria mortality rates.
The Malaria Partners Uganda representatives Mr. Bernard Osenda a Director and Ms. Eva Kagoda the Country Manager handed over the medical supplies to Bunapongo Health Center III Medical Officer in-charge, and the bicycles and torches to the VHTs. They affirmed MPI and MPU role in the fight against malaria in the affected parts of the world, informing the community that this was not the last malaria intervention for the area. The Director affirmed that the Institutions will continue reaching out to communities for as long as the problem persisted.
Dr, Martin Olupot the Medical Officer In-charge at Bunapongo Health Centre III applauded Rotary and Malaria Partners International, for the impactful malaria intervention. He described the malaria burden as dire in this community, and that the health centre was constrained because of the huge population it served of about 18,000 people and the limited government supplies. ‘Seventy percent of our patients last quarter were suffering from malaria. We have noted that many people abandon treatment once they feel better, while others self-medicate with herbs or over the counter drugs. This leads to drug resistance and recurrent infections and sometimes even loss of lives,’ he said.
