Malaria is the leading cause of illness and death in Uganda. AFM visited the country in February, 2007 to conduct interviews and gauge progress in fighting the disease. With the help of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, the World Bank, the US Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development and other donors, the national government is scaling up existing treatment and prevention efforts while also developing a country-wide indoor residual spraying program. Uganda's meager surveillance capacity, however, makes it difficult if not impossible to measure the true impact of these interventions. Donors and the national government have set malaria rate reduction targets without ensuring accurate baselines of measurement. Poor infrastructure poses problems for all aspects of malaria control, but particularly the decentralized administration of Artemisinin-based combination therapy drugs, anti-malarial drug resistance management, and the government's intention to use DDT with indoor residual spraying. Exporters are concerned that limited oversight will lead to residues on agricultural produce, jeopardizing trade with Europe, Japan and the United States. Donors are improving coordination and helping to forge solutions to these problems. . . .
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Richard Tren is the director of Africa Fighting Malaria. Roger Bate is a resident fellow at AEI. Philip Coticelli is the research and communications manager at Africa Fighting Malaria.
