Government set to eliminate malaria by 2035

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In the bid to eliminate malaria by 2035, the government is focusing on reducing malaria in high-burden areas, the program manager National Malaria Control Division at the Health Ministry, Dr Jimmy Opigo has said.

“We are shifting attention from just mere control to the elimination of malaria. Specifically, we aim at eliminating deaths while putting in place interventions to accelerate reduction in areas with very high malaria burden,” Dr Opigo said.

Speaking to New Vision, Dr Opigo said the malaria fight will also focus on managing asymptomatic malaria. Asymptomatic are people who have parasites in them, but they do not have fever, also termed as carriers.

He said patients grappling with malaria will be identified and treated early, so that they are not a source of infection to others. In addition, their contacts and household will also be tested.

The news comes at a time when Uganda is commemorating World Malaria Day. The national commemorations happened at Kauda grounds in Gulu city on April 25, under the theme: “Eliminate malaria now”

Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite. The parasite is spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. People who have malaria usually feel very sick with a high fever and chills.

The burden

Malaria is the leading cause of illness and death among young children in Uganda, responsible for up to 33% of all outpatient visits, 22% of hospital admissions and 6% of deaths, according to 2023 data from World Malaria Report 2024.

In 2023, a total of 12,573,000 people got infected with malaria, accounting for 4.8% of the total cases recorded worldwide, and hence ranking 3rd, among the top five African countries with the highest malaria burden, alongside Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Mozambique.

The same report found out that the number of people who died of malaria reduced from 16,416 (2.9% of the global deaths) in 2022 to 15,363 (2.7% of the global deaths) in 2023, consequently taking the 10th position.



Other interventions

Malaria vaccine

On April, 2, 2025, Ministry of Health with support from Gavi, UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), PATH and CHAI, rolled out a malaria vaccination campaign in Apac District, northern Uganda.

This made Uganda the 19th country in Africa to introduce the malaria vaccine into routine immunisation, and it is the largest malaria vaccine roll-out to date in terms of target districts and population.

The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, administered in four doses at 6, 7, 8 and 18 months and is targeting 1.1 million children aged under two years in 105 high- and moderate-transmission districts across Uganda.

Dr Opigo said the major focus is the elimination of malaria deaths among children aged two and below.

The vaccine reduces malaria transmission by 70%. He noted that vaccines for adults, pregnant mothers, and blocking transmission are being studied and will be rolled out soon.

“Right now we are just establishing the system for malaria vaccination so that later, when other vaccines which protect malaria in all age groups come, which is not far from now, they will find the system ready,” Dr Opigo notes.

Integrated comprehensive parasite and vector control

Dr Opigo said they have taken the approach of integrated comprehensive of parasites and mosquitoes control.

“We are fighting the mosquitoes from where they breed up to the house. You see, you give treated mosquito nets only, then you are leaving them to breed,” he notes.

The malaria prevalence has notably been on a down ward trend since 2009. It decreased from 42%, to 19% in 2014/15 to 9.1% in 2018/19.

The senior medical officer in-charge of chemo-prevention and malaria vaccine at Malaria Control Division Ministry of Health, Dr Jane Nabakooza, attributes the downward malaria prevalence trend to control interventions such as provision and promotion of treated long lasting treated mosquito nets national wide. Last year alone, a total of 2.6 million treated long lasting treated mosquito nets were distributed to pregnant women and children below five years.

Others include: malaria case management which involves test and treat in public, private health facilities, communities for children less than 5 years in 81 districts offering the integrated community case management.

Indoor residual spray has been conducted in 20 districts within the regions of West Nile, Teso, Bukeddi and Busoga.

She further notes that Chemo-prevention approached such as the intermittent treatment of malaria among pregnant women country wide, and seasonal malaria chemo-prevention for children below five years in nine districts of Karamoja sub-region plus larviciding in 11 districts across the country, have greatly helped to reduce malaria cases. 

The above interventions contributed to progressive reduction in prevalence noted above. However, there was stagnation in 2020, following a surge in cases that culminated into a malaria epidemic in 2022 affecting 70 districts.