Health Ministry confirms deadly malaria surge; 4 students die at top Kampala schools

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that four students have died from severe malaria in Kampala, but dismissed fears that a new, more dangerous strain of the disease is spreading in Uganda.

Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi told Parliament on Wednesday that the deaths involved two students from Makerere College School, one from Mengo Senior School and one from Gayaza High School. 

While the deaths sparked concerns among parents and members of the public, forcing MPs bring the matter up on the House floor, the minister said deaths are not from a new more severe strain of malaria

"On behalf of the Ministry of Health, I extend our deepest condolences to families, guardians, school communities and fellow learners of the four learners who have lost their lives. No parent should send a child to school and receive news of this nature," Baryomunsi said.

The cases, he noted, were confined to the Kampala Metropolitan area, which has historically recorded low malaria transmission, and should not be viewed as a nationwide surge among school-going children.

Baryomunsi explained that investigations have found no evidence of a new malaria parasite. 

He said Uganda's routine genomic surveillance continues to show that Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for about 97 per cent of malaria infections in the country, remains unchanged. According to the ministry, the deaths resulted from severe malaria caused by the same parasite that has circulated in Uganda for decades.

The minister attributed the deaths to low immunity among children raised in areas with limited malaria transmission. 

He said children in Kampala and other low-transmission regions are exposed to malaria less frequently during childhood and therefore fail to develop the natural immunity seen in children from high-transmission districts. As a result, severe malaria can develop quickly and become fatal if emergency treatment is delayed.

Addressing public concern over reports of a new strain, Baryomunsi said surveillance data does not support that claim.

"Uganda routinely conducts genomic surveillance on circulating malaria parasites. This surveillance has not detected any change in the parasites currently circulating in the country."

He added: "Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, has remained as it has been for decades. This accounted for 97 per cent of the infections in Uganda. What has killed these learners is the same parasite that ordinarily causes malaria. It is not a new strain."

The minister warned that children with little or no acquired immunity can deteriorate rapidly after infection.

"An immunologically naive child can progress from first symptoms to severe malaria, including cerebral malaria and anaemia, within 24 hours and from severe malaria to death within two hours if emergency treatment is not accessed in time," he said.

Baryomunsi said the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have formed a joint task force to investigate the outbreak and assess the burden of malaria among schoolchildren. 

The government has also launched confidential inquiries at the four affected schools, issued fresh malaria guidance to schools across the country, revived school health reporting systems and begun deploying nurses and other health workers to government schools while strengthening emergency referral systems.