Scientists at Gudie Leisure farm found at Najjeera in Kira Municipality in a move to fight Malaria, have developed an organic mosquito repellant aimed at reducing the burden of Malaria in the country.
This was unveiled at the West Nile Youth Agribusiness symposium which collected over 100 youth from the West Nile region on Monday.
Professor Robert Basaza, one of the scientists revealed that they have spent several years studying mosquitos until they managed to come up with a product extracted from the natural plant extracts.
Trust Hunting Vodka: 0754649086
According to Professor Basaza the developed mosquito repellant can keep away mosquitos for over seven hours. He also said that the product is currently in its final stages of being licensed so that they can now produce it in big quantities for public consumption.
“Mosquitos bite before you go to bed, a mosquito net can’t protect you when eating dinner or when reading books in the seating room, so look for a system that can make sure that mosquito can’t reach you”. Professor Basaza stated.
The professor also said that with funding and technical guidance from the government, they have managed to set up a healthcare unit within the area to provide cheap healthcare services.
Emanuel Otieno, another scientist, said that they hope to put up a plant that will manufacture in large quantities.
He also said that they grow plants on the farm from which the extract is got and tested in the laboratory.
Julius Mutebi Nsubuga the mayor of Kira municipality urged the government to invest funds and support such initiatives aimed at managing diseases and supporting the youths.
“I have witnessed these government initiatives of giving money to the youth and women to be able to carry out commercial activities, but this act should stop, government should be considering that this money is given out to initiatives like this to be able to spread all over the country to give capacity to the youth and women to be able to do a thing on their own”.
Mutebi added that several times the money given to the youth can’t do much because they are in a group each gets a small portion of the money and then some of them even fail to pay back this revolving fund and they end up in prison.
It’s estimated that the average economic loss in Uganda due to malaria annually is over $500 million.
According to the BMC Public Health peer-reviewed journal of 2020, Uganda was estimated to be the 3rd highest contributor of malaria cases globally in 2018, with incidence rates of 250 cases per 1000 population at risk within a perennial transmission setting.