Uganda: Conditions for DDT Spray Set

New Vision (Kampala)

January 3, 2007
Posted to the web January 4, 2007

Gerald Tenywa
Kampala

THE National Environment Management Authority has asked the health ministry to obtain an approval from the secretariat of the Stockholm Convention before spraying DDT.

Speaking at a press conference in Kampala yesterday, the executive director of the environment body, Dr. Aryamanya Mugisha, said the ministry should also get an approval from the World Health Organisation to spray DDT to control malaria.

These are some of the conditions the Government watchdog on the environment set after approving that each house will be sprayed with the drug to control malaria spread.

Mugisha asserted that a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary monitoring committee should be established to oversee the implementation of the environment concerns of DDT.

"We have approved DDT, but we know it is a deadly chemical which should not be handled carelessly," Mugisha said.

"It will only be applied in the interior of houses and the conditions we have set shall help to ensure that it does not contaminate the environment."

The committee will among others comprise officials from the National Environment Management Authority, the ministries of health and agriculture.

Asked whether the spray of DDT in houses would be voluntary or forceful, Mugisha replied; "The Ministry of Health will cause public awareness to prepare people to accept their houses to be sprayed."

Pilot areas for DDT use will be those worst hit by malaria like districts near Lake Kyoga and south-western Uganda.