Agnes Akissa and her 11-year-old son have suffered several bouts of malaria, greatly impacting on her household income as the female anopheles' bites made her lose working hours.
Malaria is an endemic disease in Uganda, killing mostly pregnant mothers and children below the age of five. Those who are sick of the disease lose several working hours and also have to spend their meagre income to treat the disease.
The Ministry of Health announced earlier that the country was facing an unprecedented increase of malaria cases over the last three months. The malaria cases between June and August increased to 1.4 million from 1 million.
People like Akissa are using a Chinese-made drug, Duo-Cotecxin, for the treatment of the deadly malaria. The artemisinin-based combination therapy is manufactured by China-based KPC Pharmaceuticals, Inc..
'After taking it, I started feeling better unlike other previous medicines I have been taking,' Akissa told Xinhua, noting that she also treated her school-going child with Duo-Cotecxin after he tested positive for malaria.
Feng Shichao, a Chinese construction worker, told Xinhua that he first got a malaria attack while in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
'I had a fever and my temperature was 39.6 degrees Celsius, and I suffered pain in all my joints and a splitting headache. At that time, I was very nervous and worried, scared of dying from cerebral malaria,' Feng said.
When Feng sought treatment from China Aid Hospital in South Sudan, the doctor prescribed Duo-Cotecxin.
'There are several malaria drugs on the market but the advantage of Duo-Cotecxin is that you swallow tablets once a day for three days unlike other treatments where you swallow twice a day for three days, ' said Laban Kittata, a pharmacist at Royal Pharm 2011 Ltd in the capital Kampala.