Hepatitis B kills two in Katakwi

Call for action. Touring the district at the weekend, the State Minister for Teso Affairs demanded that the government embarks on mass vaccination against the disease, which has been ignored since 2009.

The State Minister for Teso Affairs, Ms Christine Amongin, has asked the government to start a massive vaccination against Hepatitis B, a disease that has claimed several lives in the region since 2009.

The minister’s call comes after two people died of the disease in Katakwi District at the weekend. Last year, two people died while 10 others were diagnosed with the disease in Kumi District.
Ms Amongin said besides health workers, the communities should also be vaccinated to curb the spread of the disease.

“We shouldn’t continue witnessing such deaths, something must be done,” she said during the handover of computers donated by the Agricultural Livelihood Recovery Project (ALREP) for northern Uganda to Katakwi and Amuria districts.

The minister, who was also monitoring ALREP-funded projects in Katakwi, challenged the district health personnel to provide adequate information to the public on issues concerning the disease.

Mr Robert Ekongot, the Katakwi LC5 chairperson, said the diagnosis on the victims had confirmed that they all died of Hepatitis B.
Attending the burials of the victims yesterday, Mr Ekongot told mourners to desist from their cultural norm of shaking hands until measures to control the disease are undertaken.

“We have complained about this, and we hope that this time round the government will respond,” he said.