February ended on a tragic note for a northern Kampala suburban community that had to troop in their hundreds to the city cathedral and bid a final farewell to their young neighbour. Her life had been cut short by a mosquito bite.
She had just turned nine and reported back to school in Primary Four to start the 2025 first term when she came down with malaria. Her parents took her to one of the upscale city hospitals. But after seven days of hospitalisation she lost the battle, leaving the neighbourhood and her entire school community asking “Why, why!”
Many thousands of children meet a similar tragic end every year in Uganda, as malaria remains the biggest cause of death in the country. As such, no efforts are being spared to increase the chances of surviving the disease, especially for the children who are most vulnerable to it. Indeed, the Health Minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, on 7 March 2025 launched Uganda’s malaria vaccination drive which is expected to help reduce the magnitude of tragedy that hits tens of thousands of families in Uganda every year.
And come next month in the first week of April, with the vaccines delivered to all corners of the country, the first dose will be administered to a child in Uganda, a historical event to kick off the world’s biggest malaria vaccine rollout so far.
“had to troop in their hundreds to the city cathedral and bid a final farewell to their young neighbour. Her life had been cut short by a mosquito bite.”
Joachim Buwembo
The first consignment of 2,278,000 vaccine doses of the over three million provided by the Gavi alliance at a cost of nearly US$9 million with a top up by the Government of Uganda, supported by UNICEF with other health partners including the World Health Organisation, was handed over at the National Medical Stores in Kampala to Dr Aceng. UNICEF is responsible for the procurement and air freighting of the vaccines.
Receiving the consignment at the National Medical Stores in Kajjansi, Wakiso District, the minister was quick to remind the public that the vaccine is not a replacement of the anti-malaria interventions but is complimentary especially to vector control efforts like sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets, indoor residual spraying, and seeking immediate medical treatment on falling sick.
The minister encouraged the public to embrace the vaccine because it is effective, saves life and saves families from heavy expenditure of funds which they would otherwise invest in improving their lives.
The UNICEF Representative to Uganda Dr Robin Nandy explained that the vaccine will help to reduce the incidence of malaria and contribute to the reduction of mortality rates of children under five in Uganda, currently at 20,000 a year.
The vaccine is targeting the most vulnerable infants from 6 months to one and half years and is administered in four jabs. It works by curtailing the parasites’ access to the liver where they multiply to attack the red blood cells.
The vaccination in Uganda will start early April in 105 districts, the most affected of the 146 that make up the country. The exercise will kick off on April 2nd in Apac, northern Uganda which has been locally described as the district with the “biggest number of mosquito bites in the world”.
For Uganda, which is one of the three most affected African countries alongside Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the vaccine rollout is going to be a game changer because of the unacceptably high mortality malaria visits on the population. The government and UNICEF have emphasised that the malaria vaccine is absolutely free of charge and urged parents and caregivers to take it as a key component of the essential child immunisation practice.
