At least 33 people died from malaria in Luwero district during the 2025/2026 financial year, with children under five accounting for more than half of the deaths.
According to the district health report for FY 2025/26, 18 of the 33 malaria deaths were children below five years, while 15 were people aged five years and above.
Diabetes mellitus was the leading cause, claiming 43 lives, followed by malaria. Tuberculosis (TB) was third with 29 deaths, while urinary tract infections (UTIs) accounted for 23 of the 279 deaths registered during the year.
Although malaria deaths have generally declined in recent years, health officials and local leaders remain concerned about the persistence of fatalities from a disease that is preventable and treatable.
The district recorded 99 malaria deaths in FY 2021/22, which fell to 70 in 2022/23, 44 in 2023/24 and 26 in 2024/25. The figure, however, increased to 33 in 2025/26.
Confirmed malaria cases have also fluctuated. The district recorded 189,881 cases in 2025/26, compared with 219,986 in 2020/21, 220,205 in 2021/22, 168,430 in 2022/23, 192,594 in 2023/24 and 217,420 in 2024/25.
Luwero district health officer (DHO), Dr Innocent Nkonwa, attributed some of the deaths to delayed access to healthcare, inappropriate treatment practices and patients arriving at health facilities when their conditions had already deteriorated.
He said the situation was particularly concerning among patients with other chronic illnesses, whose conditions can complicate malaria infections.
Nkonwa said health facilities had resolved to test every patient presenting with symptoms that could be associated with malaria before ruling out the disease and diagnosing other conditions.
The district is also strengthening integrated community case management (iCCM), under which malaria patients in rural communities can be tested and treated closer to their homes by community health extension workers.
Bamunanika County MP Robert Ssekitoleko said the district had made progress in controlling malaria but needed to intensify community sensitisation on prevention.
Ssekitoleko urged residents to consistently sleep under mosquito nets and adopt other measures to minimise exposure to mosquito bites.
Shaban Mulani Mukiibi, the LC III chairperson of Butuntumula sub-county, said some residents still resort to self-medication or delay seeking treatment because of the long distances to health facilities.
He said the delays often allow infections to worsen, resulting in complications and, in some cases, death. Mukiibi said LC1 leaders would soon oversee the distribution of mosquito nets to households in villages across the sub-county.
He expressed optimism that the distribution, coupled with sustained sensitisation on the correct use of mosquito nets and early treatment, would help reduce malaria infections and deaths in the area.
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