Gulu district health department has asked parents to provide insecticide treated mosquito nets to their children as a new school term opens.
The appeal comes on the heels of an upsurge in cases of malaria in Acholi and Lango sub regions.
Statistics indicates that Gulu District alone has registered rising cases of malaria infections from 2,169 in May last year to over 450,000 by mid-February this year.
Malaria is also ranked first among the ten killer diseases in children under five and adults contributing to 29 percent of deaths in Gulu district.
Malaria has so far killed 378 in Acholi sub region with 168 people in Gulu in less than a year.
Rose Okilangole, the Gulu Assistant District Health Officer asked parents to provide mosquito nets to their children especially those in boarding schools.
Okilangole noted on Monday that the nets will go a long way in reduction of cases of malaria. Okilangole stressed the importance of mosquito nets in the fight against malaria.
She urged school authorities to ensure that students sleep under mosquito nets in order to reduce exposure to mosquito bites.
The district health department also plans to train school nurses and science teachers in the management of malaria in their respective schools.
So far, Village Health Teams (VHTs) have been trained on case management.
Meanwhile in Acholi sub region with a population of 1,511,613, an estimated 886,891 patients have turned positive after testing for malaria.
In February, the Ministry of Health (MoH) dispatched a team of more than 370 health workers to northern Uganda to deal with the epidemic.
The most affected districts by the epidemic are Gulu, Agago, Pader, Kitgum, Lamwo, Oyam and Apac districts among others.
