ADJUMANI, UGANDA: The common superstitious beliefs among the refugee community in Adjumani district is a huge impediment in the fight against the deadly covid-19 virus and the resurgent Hepatitis b virus with the skyrocketing prevalence of 8%.
The low uptake of Covid-19 vaccines and the resurgence of the Hepatitis B virus which is the leading cause of liver cirrhosis in the district has led to the re-launch of Covid-19, vaccinations and fresh screening and vaccinations against Hepatitis B across the district.
The counteractive vaccination campaign is supported by UN Women to the tune of shs132m as the disease burden of Covid-19 and Hepatitis B, is anticipated to rest on women who are the guardians of children and most families.
The Adjumani district secretary for health Mr Sabuni John who headed the launch in Nyumanzi refugees’ settlement yesterday, February 6, 2023, called upon the entire refugees’ population to reject delusory beliefs and embrace the science of medicine and good health-seeking behaviour.
Mr Sabuni lashed out at leaders who sabotaged the mass Covid-19 vaccinations in 2022, through the spread of malicious information that the government planned to kill refugees through the Covid-19, vaccines, while others claimed that the vaccines cause infertility and dysfunctionality of male sexual organs.
He appealed to the refugee populace not to pay attention to nonsense since no government can kill its citizens, besides he said killing in Covid-19 vaccines can prove expensive to governments.
“I want to challenge the leaders to take lead in the Covid-19, vaccinations exercise, Hepatitis B Screening and vaccinations so that the rest of the population will have the motivation and courage to participate in the exercise”.
“Several desperate attempts to convince the refugee population to take covid-19 jabs during the mass covid-19 vaccinations in 2022 achieved little success as only 24% of the refugees targeted for vaccination responded,” Sabuni lamented.
Adjumani district is home to over 230.000 refugees mainly from South Sudan who have a history of poor health-seeking behaviour, many of them have faith in traditional healers and other supernatural beliefs.
The Assistant district health officer Mr Lulu Henry Leku regretfully notes that the vaccination success rate among the refugee population during the 2022 mass vaccination exercise was very slow
Mr Lulu Henry Leku said out of the 273.380 targeted population for covid-19 vaccination in Adjumani district 158.592 were vaccinated representing 58%.
He said in to ensure maximum protection against Covid-19, the vaccination coverage should hit the 95%mark that is when the community will achieve hard immunity which is a recommended standard in Public health.
The district health office has accordingly designated 40 Covid-19 vaccination points and 37 Hepatitis Screening centres, covering all the sub-counties and apparently all the health facilities in the district and the exercise has been programmed to last six days.
The refugee leaders asserted their authority and vowed to ensure that the target population for vaccinations is achieved but called for authorities not to use coercive approaches like carrying Covid-19, certificates to food distribution centres and other public places
The statistics of Hepatitis B, is, however, worrying, according to data released by the district health office yesterday, in the Financial year 2021-2022, the district recorded 253 Hepatitis B deaths, the highest Hepatitis B, mortality ever recorded in the history of the district,
In 2015, government launched the National Hepatitis B vaccination program in Adjumani district when it was discovered that Adjumani district was leading in Hepatitis B infections in the Country with a prevalence of 14%.
The campaign, however, collapsed as the public snubbed Hepatitis B, screening, the Ministry of health consequently re-allocated the vaccines to other districts where the demand for the vaccines was imminent.
According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda’s Hepatitis B prevalence stands at 4.1 per cent, And in May 2016, at the World Health Assembly, 194 governments adopted the first-ever Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis and agreed to the first-ever global targets. The strategy included a target to treat eight million people for Hepatitis B or C by 2020.
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