Ebenezer T. bifubyeka (Ten),Biafra, Mbrarara, Western Uganda.
THE rising temperature in Mbarara has raised water temperatures leading to high breeding of mosquitoes.
Residents in Makenke, Biafra and Kijungu in Mbarara municipality are worried over the multitude of mosquitoes. Mbarara has not had such swarms of mosquitoes before!
The increased number of mosquitoes in Mbarara is as a result of climate change, according to the western regional national environmental management authority (NEMA) public awareness and education officer, Jeconious Musingwire.
‘The raising of water temperature in various water bodies prompts the multiplication of egg-hatching and breeding of anopheles mosquitoes, which are agents of malaria transmission,’ Musingwire explains.
According top the medical superintendent at Mbarara University Referral Hospital, Placid Mihayo, the rise in temperatures has caused the alarming cases of malaria:
In the month of April, the hospital registered 2,434 cases of malaria; 3,339 cases in May; 2,637 cases in June and 2,571 cases in July. He says the most affected people are females aged five years and above.
However, Musingwire adds that the mosquitoes have invaded homes in big masses because people have encroached on their habitat – the environment, which moderates climate. He sites an example of Kabale district in western Uganda:
The cooler micro-climate, which was being supported by wetlands, was scared off by the encroachers who drained most wetlands for agricultural cropping and animal farm establishment.
‘The scenario of wetland depletion in Kabale led to the increase in temperature, which also led to the increase of mosquitoes; and subsequently, malaria hit the area for the first time in history,’ he says.
So how can the authorities, Musingwire asks, sustain the green belts – not only to promote climate modulation and answer the scenario of mosquito multiplication – but also to cater for the water run off?
Musingwire says mosquitoes normally breed from stagnant water; and the areas of Kijungu, Biafra and Makenke are fond of flooding.
He appeals to the authorities to stop allowing new developments in green belts, ‘Scare off the encroachers in the green belts. Formulate ordinance and by-laws to promote the conservation of the green belts, and sensitise the public about their value in urban areas.’
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