By Comr Amos Kalu
In her continued efforts at promoting health awareness around Africa and bolstering the image of her country around the globe, the energetic and pragmatic Special Assistant to the President of Uganda, His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, has taken her drive for greater inclusion of the African continent to Canada, where she made a case for awareness on malaria and other terminable diseases plaguing Africa.
During the one-day event of commemoration of World Malaria Day that was held in City Hall, Halifax, NS, Canada on April 16, 2024, the renowned preacher of the gospel shed light on the fact that more attention should be paid to creating awareness on the seemingly common disease that kills many children in Africa every second, insisting that Africans cannot champion the fight all alone, hence the need to take the message to Canada, whose technological advancement, political orientation, and humanitarian policies can further help to salvage Africa and save her innocent children from the clutches of the deadly disease.
The Malaria Awareness campaign was organised by Drum Against Malaria {DAM) an offshoot of Challenge AIDS and Malaria in Africa (CHAMA), an advocacy group against malaria that has been at the forefront of the war against malaria in Africa for nearly 2 decades. The founder, Dr. Olugu Ukpai, lost his 16-month-old baby girl to malaria due to a misdiagnosis while he was away on a study trip to Canada. He later turned his pain to passion in saving lives from being lost to Malaria needlessly, his effort has saved many lives, from Nigeria to Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, etc where the Humanitarian efforts of passionate volunteers has resulted to over 900 free surgeries, free schools and Orphanages as well as empowerment for the vulnerable ones, especially single mothers. The drum as symbol of African culture is the emblem and medium of awareness that has been accepted by the Canada community, a case of passing important message through Africa entertainment.
For her tenacity and relentless disposition in fighting to change the narratives for Africa, the well-attended event that attracted top echelon of the Canada lawmakers like the Mayor of Halifax, His Worship Mike Savage, Hon. Barbara Adams, Hon. Suzy Hendasen and other top personalities found the SA to Uganda President, Ms Phionah Burungi as worthy ambassador for the crusade for a better Africa and she was officially given the special award as DAM Cultural Ambassador for East Africa.
Among other responsibilities that comes with the elevated award, she is charged with responsibility of creating DAM across East Africa countries to deepen the awareness. She will be the DAM’s face on the war against Malaria in East Africa through awareness and education.
Accordingly the ambassador of DAM is charged with the task of bringing report on her success story to DAM’s annual event in Canada and liase with partners, companies, churches philanthropist etc., on this war as well as encouraging them to attend Malaria event in Canada every April from 2025. This will give her a wider reach and better authority as the face of Africa in the spirited effort at curbing Malaria and other deadly diseases in continent.
Highlight of the event included the official declaration of Annual Malaria Day in Canada to create greater awareness and support against the disease. The 2025 version of the event has been scheduled for 26th, 27th and 29th April.
