Amuru needs Sh900 million to combat cholera

CAPTION: Michael Lakony, the Amuru District LCV Chairperson addresses residents of Lakang Subcounty in Amuru district during a community engagement. (Courtsey photo).

By Our reporter

AMURU – Leaders in Amuru district have expressed concerns over the continued silence of the Health Ministry regarding a cholera outbreak in Elegu Town Council, located at the Uganda-South Sudan border. They say the lack of communication is undermining emergency response efforts.

Since the acute diarrheal infection was first reported earlier this month, at least five people have died from cholera at Bibia Health Center III, according to health officials. Additionally, local leaders reported four community deaths from the waterborne disease in Lorikor village, Lorikor parish, within Elegu Town Council.

Data from the district Surveillance Department shows that as of July 27, the cumulative number of suspected cholera cases stands at 228. Of these, 205 were probable cases tested using Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, and 27 cases have been confirmed.

Amuru District Taskforce is seeking over Sh900 million to combat a cholera outbreak that has killed five people and infected more than 200 since early July. Chief Administrative Officer Charles Otai says the funds will boost treatment, surveillance, and preventive measures to curb further spread.

Michael Lakony, the Amuru District LCV Chairperson, however, expressed concern that the silence of the Health Ministry in declaring a cholera outbreak is affecting emergency response and discouraging key partners from intervening. Lakony noted that it’s the second time the Health Ministry has failed to declare for an emergency outbreak of cholera in the district, the first being in 2016 when two people died from Cholera.

According to Lakony, the district is struggling with its limited financial and human resources to combat the waterborne disease, which he says is now getting out of hand. He highlighted that Bibia Health Center III, which is handling the treatment of the patients, lacks the required number of health workers.

Lakony has threatened that should the Ministry keep silent, the district leadership will organize a demonstration at the border town in a show of anger to attract the attention of other partners and those who matter in the government. Robert Onekalit, the District Surveillance Focal Point person, told Uganda Radio Network that if the Ministry had made a national declaration of Cholera, partners would intervene to offer support in combating the disease.

Onekalit said the district local government is struggling on its own, albeit with limited support from other health partners in addressing the cholera outbreak. “We are struggling as a district; we have no serious support from the Ministry. If the Ministry had declared this a public health emergency, we would have received support, but at the moment, there is nothing,” said Onekalit.

Amuru Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Osborn Oceng, said they have come up with key interventions, among them, intensifying sensitization about latrine usage and proper personal and home hygiene among the residents of Elegu. Oceng noted that up to about 64 percent of the population in Elegu Town Council still don’t own or use latrines, a complex situation he says encourages open defecation, which ends up contaminating water sources whenever it rains.

He, however, highlighted the major key challenges as the reluctance by the Ministry of Health to declare a declaring looking at the situation, to allow emergency intervention from humanitarian health organizations. In the meantime, the Amuru officials have partnered with Nimule Hospital in Nimule Town, in South Sudan, a few kilometers from Elegu Town Council, to offer cholera vaccines to Ugandans in need to offer protection against cholera.

Dr Godfrey Bwire, the Assistant Commissioner for Health Services and the Head of Public Health Emergency preparedness and response, didn’t offer comment immediately when contacted on Sunday, saying he was out of office. However, on Monday, efforts to get comments from him were futile as he didn’t answer repeated phone calls made by this reporter.

As of July 15, only 27 cases of cholera were confirmed through culture-based tests conducted at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital Laboratory. According to situation reports from the surveillance department, a total of 494 contacts had been listed in the Amuru district on July 20. The Cholera outbreak in Amuru district follows an outbreak of the disease in the neighboring Agoro Subcounty in Lamwo district in January this year which left one person dead and infected 106.