Uganda is among the top 10 countries in Africa with the highest risk of Malaria, according to a study by The Lancet medical journal.
The study which was published on Wednesday shows that gains in fighting malaria in sub-Saharan Africa have left the highest risk for the disease concentrated in 10 countries.
These countries include Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Guinea and Togo.
Together they account for 87 percent of areas that have the highest prevalence of malaria.
The researchers drew up a map of the changing face of malaria from thousands of surveys of prevalence of the disease among children in 44 countries.
They set down three categories of risk: high, meaning places where more than 50 percent of the population were likely to be infected by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite; moderate (10 to 50 percent of the population infected); and low (less than 10 percent).
Four countries — Cape Verde, Eritrea, South Africa and Ethiopia — joined Swaziland, Djibouti and Mayotte in the elite club of countries where transmission levels are so low that elimination of malaria is a realistic goal.
“Substantial reductions in malaria transmission have been achieved in endemic countries in Africa over the period 2000-2010,” the paper said.
“However, 57 percent of the population in 2010 continued to live in areas where transmission remains moderate to intense and global support to sustain and accelerate the reduction of transmission must remain a priority.”
In its 2013 report on malaria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) last December said 3.3 million lives had been saved worldwide since 2000.
