By Bondry Kilenga
Kotido District Health authorities have commenced the sensitization of communities ahead of the malaria vaccination campaign scheduled for April, 2025.
On March 7, 2025, Uganda launched a malaria vaccination drive, with the first consignment of 2.7 million doses of the vaccine dispatched to 105 districts.
The vaccine is aimed at reducing malaria cases, especially in children under two years.
The Kotido District Health Educator, Tonny Achuma says they have completed the translation of educational materials into the local language to ease information dissemination during the training of other stakeholders to be held between March 24- 26, 2025.
Achuma says that the malaria vaccine has four doses which will be administered to the children to boost their immunity.
Uganda faces a significant malaria burden, with the disease being a leading cause of sickness and death, especially in children, and impacting over 90% of the population.
Malaria is responsible for a substantial portion of outpatient visits, hospital admissions, and deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
In 2023 alone, the WHO reported an estimated 12.6 million malaria cases and over 15,945 deaths in the country.
Uganda is ranked among the top countries with the highest global burden of malaria cases, with 5.1% of the global cases and 2.9% of global deaths.
