Uganda’s independent Nile Post on Monday reported the “worrying development” that parents are hiding their children to keep health officials from discovering they have contracted measles.
Fears of a mass outbreak are running high in Uganda even though only seven cases were confirmed as of this weekend.
The Nile Post quoted health officials who pleaded with parents to be honest about their children’s health because concealing cases of the highly infectious disease will ensure the outbreak does spread, and measles can have fatal complications for young children:
Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the director of public health, at the ministry of health had expressed concern about this development, urging parents to take responsibility for their children’s health and cooperate with efforts to control further spread.
The scare has caused concern among health authorities, who are urging the public to take precautions to prevent further spread of the disease. Measles is highly contagious and can be spread through coughing and sneezing.
The director of public health at the ministry of health is also warning against misinformation about the disease, which can discourage people from seeking medical help or following preventive measures. They urge the public to rely on credible sources of information, such as health authorities and medical professionals.
Uganda was a hotbed of disinformation and rumors during previous measles outbreaks and the coronavirus pandemic, especially conspiracy theories about vaccination due to widespread mistrust of the government and enduring belief in the power of folk remedies.
A considerable amount of quackery spread across Uganda during the coronavirus pandemic. The speaker of the Ugandan house, Rebecca Kadaga, claimed in the spring of 2020 to have obtained a magic spray from an American inventor that instantly kills the Wuhan coronavirus.
In July 2021, at least 800 Ugandans were injected with fake coronavirus vaccines by unscrupulous doctors who preyed upon people who were desperate for protection. Some of the counterfeit injections contained little more than water. Police described the fugitive fake doctor who administered the bogus inoculations as nothing more than a “common criminal.”
Ugandan health officials have been met with heavy resistance when attempting to contain Ebola outbreaks in rural areas, ranging from devotees of traditional healers to young people upset about quarantine restrictions.
A review compiled in March by the National Library of Medicine said other factors in Ugandan vaccine hesitancy included fear of side effects, deep faith in traditional medication among older citizens, and people who believe government vaccination programs are secretly designed to spread diseases rather than cure them.
Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, director of health services at the Ministry of Health, said last week that the measles outbreak in Ugandan schools was partly caused by a failure to “exhaustively cover” the Ebola-hit areas of Kampala and Wakiso with measles inoculations last year.
Schools in the outbreak areas have asked parents to keep sick children at home, but epidemiologists said this did not mean infections should be kept secret.
Kyabayinze said on Thursday that “outbreak thresholds are not yet reached” based on the small number of confirmed cases. The Ugandan Ministry of Health considers three confirmed measles infections from a single location to be grounds for declaring an outbreak.
“The most important thing is for parents or schools to report. We had already controlled measles so it is very important for us to confirm whether it is measles or it is those measles-like illnesses, which also cause rashes,” said child health commissioner Dr. Jessica Nsungwa.