Lemongrass (known as kisubi in Luganda) is a spice that Christine Arobo always stocks up on and blends into her tea every night. Alobo, a resident of Sita in Goma district of Mukono district, uses lemongrass to spice up her unsweetened tea in a bid to maximize its health benefits.
For a long time, Arobo believed that lemongrass served purely as a spice. One evening in early May 2022, her friend Teopista Nakitende offered her another benefit. Arobo, a farmer and midwife, was advised to plant lemongrass in her garden and around her house as it helps repel mosquitoes. Two years later, Alobo couldn’t be more grateful.
“We have noticed that there are fewer buzzing mosquitoes near fresh grass. This treatment doesn’t stop them completely, but they are more likely to buzz and fly from one place to another. “It reduces your ability to move and move around,” she told the Sunday Monitor.
Arobo is one of the troops deploying plant-based treatments to fight malaria, Uganda’s leading cause of death.
Intermittent and recurrent fever is endemic in vast areas of the country and rears its ugly head during the two rainy seasons, March to May and August to October. Those involved in the fight against malaria believe that the persistence of malaria is due not only to the seemingly resistant vectors (mosquitoes) and the parasite that causes malaria (Plasmodium), but also to a shrinking range of resources. There is.
On two separate occasions in mid-April, the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aseng, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine, received the malaria vaccine administered by the Ministry of Health’s head of immunization, Dr Michael Baganizi. expressed concern about over-reliance on The ministry announced it would start in October.
“We are now seeing malaria infecting not only children but also adolescents. That means,” Dr. Aceng told the House of Commons on April 20.
This came minutes after Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Taibwa, who is also the patron of the Parliamentary Forum on Malaria, led MPs and other stakeholders on a malaria walk in Kampala. The walk aimed to raise awareness in a country where the disease burden from tropical diseases remains strong.
Uganda is also using indoor residual spraying (IRS) to catch treatable tropical diseases, but it is facing resistance in some places. For example, in March 2019, police in Butebo district learned that Fred Twache had set his house on fire in protest against the government’s Revenue Department. He reportedly said the chemicals deployed by the Ministry of Health were toxic to animals and humans.
Taibwa said during a malaria walk event in April that other containment measures, such as treatment, were already draining government resources and had minimal success.
“This treatment is ineffective. It’s very expensive. We spend a lot of money treating malaria, and yet too many young people die,” he said in 2015. He said the disease had a 42% prevalence of parasites among children under the age of five.
The Deputy Speaker also reiterated long-standing concerns about the misuse of donor-purchased long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, which are distributed free to families to protect Ugandans from mosquito bites. Although Ugandans tend to be more comfortable using pesticides, Dr Atwine warned that pesticides “affect the lungs”, adding that “there is a risk of ingesting pesticides”.[ting] Accumulated toxic amounts. ”
This is the reason why the government is promoting the introduction of plants to fight malaria, and even the opposition parties are promoting it. On 19 April, the Shadow Minister for Climate and Environment, Christine Kaaya Nakimwero, joined Speaker of the House of Representatives Anita Ammon in offering her generous support. Almost a year ago, on April 20, Dr. Atwine also rallied behind plant-based approaches.
“We need to find ways to improve the environment through the National Forest Service. We would like to see them advocate for planting a tree in every home to keep mosquitoes away. You can plant a tree and it’s very easy,” said the Ministry of Health’s chief accounting officer.
As a result, the Ministry’s Finance and Multisectoral Partnerships Coordinator, Dr. Peter Mbabazi, has listed a series of plants that the government has encouraged Ugandans to plant, use and consume. He named them lemongrass, rosemary, lemon balm, garlic, onion, and peppermint. He also listed basil, eucalyptus, lavender and lantana camara.
The aforementioned plants emit odors that tend to repel mosquitoes, which could otherwise transmit and spread malaria in the community.
Dr Jimmy Opigo, Malaria Control Program Manager at the Ministry of Health, told the Sunday Monitor that calls for the government to increase the use of plant repellents are growing and efforts are being rolled out with support from civil society organizations (CSOs). He said he is doing so.
“We are serious about promoting plant repellents. We have been working with nurseries. [bed] We work with businesses, CSOs, and especially Rotarians to ensure that medicinal plants blend in with smaller plants and edible crops when beautifying their grounds. “Plants contain chemicals,” he reveals, adding, “It’s increasing and people are using plant-based repellents because they’re easier to use. These repellents Most of the preparations contain citronella oil, which has beneficial effects on the skin when applied.
Dorothy Namubiru, public image chair for the Rotary Club of Kampala Central (District 9213), said her fraternity uses the Plant Your Balance Initiative to promote environmental conservation and education, among other things. . Through this program, Rotarians manage nurseries from which plants are harvested and distributed to local communities. Plants to be distributed include eucalyptus trees, which act as mosquito repellents. The Rotarians then moved to schools, including Wangyange Girls’ Secondary School in Jinja district, which they attended in July.
Dr Opigo said the plant-based method was not entirely new, as it had previously been employed by indigenous communities who painted the walls of their homes with feces, which was thought to contain plant-repellent properties.
“They painted it two to four times a year, calling it home decoration to fight malaria, and painting it on their homes as an IRS,” he said.
The government has launched a rollout campaign to spread the treatment to other parts of the country.
“This ingredient is commonly detected in the West Nile, Eastern and Kampala regions,” Dr. Opigo said, adding that the Ministry of Health is “trying to incorporate it into lotions and bath soaps.” Over time, most bath soaps will contain them. When you take a bath, the scent of the oil remains on your skin, [mosquito] Insects won’t come. ”
This demonstrates the power and potential of plants to combat mosquitoes and malaria. Several forms of research have shown that this approach has advantages. A study conducted in Owerri, southeastern Nigeria, experimented with lemongrass as a mosquito repellent, combining it with other oils to create a lotion that was applied to parts of the body of 12 participants. This study demonstrated that lemongrass oil has mosquito repellent abilities, providing 74% protection against Mansonia mosquitoes for over two hours.
Another study titled “Natural plant-based mosquito repellent products: a potential complementary tool for malaria vector control interventions and eradication in Zimbabwe” aims to incorporate plant-based approaches into existing vector control strategies. This is research that requires.
Recognizing that fighting malaria requires a concerted effort, the Ugandan government has authorized private organizations to disseminate this treatment. One of them is Yusuf Kawoya Kasumba, owner of Roperfree. He uses his Kampala-based shop to extract substances from lemongrass, eucalyptus and carrier oils.
Similarly, Swan Serenity, another local retailer in Uganda, uses extracts from eucalyptus to make repellents used as body sprays and air sprays.
