Malaria, followed by pneumonia, remains the biggest threat to people in our area, especially under children. They are the number one and two disease in our top ten of illnesses and as the causes of death. We therefore strongly support the government program on Alu as a free first line drug for malaria as this is saving many lives. The reason we still see many deaths from these two diseases is that patient still come very late to our hospital when the disease is already very advanced and treatment with even second line drugs is then sometimes still too late.

Although malnutrition is only mentioned as the main admitting diagnosis in 40 patients, we do notice malnutrition is a major complicating factor in patients admitted for other diseases like pneumonia and burns. We are therefore see it as important to continue with our free patient meals, although the real solution can only be made on a community level.

In the top ten of deaths, the most noticeable development is the sudden appearance of ARC (Aids Related Complications) as the number one cause of death among admissions older than five years (15 death in 2008 compared to 7 in 2007). This is likely due to the fact that People living with HIV/Aids are more likely to seek help when they are ill now that we have a CTC clinic.

Although the numbers still remain relatively low, we do see a significant increase in diseases which are associated with older age, like for example cardiovascular diseases. In 2007 total admission for cardiovascular diseases was 20, but in 2008 it grew to 53.