mosquitoes - Uganda Multimedia News & Information https://www.weinformers.com Politics, Health, Sceince, Business, Agriculture, Culture, Tourism, Women, Men, Oil, Sports Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:05:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 Water hyacinth re-appears on Uganda’s Lake Victoria https://www.weinformers.com/2017/07/19/water-hyacinth-re-appears-on-ugandas-lake-victoria/ https://www.weinformers.com/2017/07/19/water-hyacinth-re-appears-on-ugandas-lake-victoria/#respond Wed, 19 Jul 2017 13:05:28 +0000 http://www.weinformers.com/?p=49133 Visiting Lake Victoria, one of the visible features at first sight is the green water hyacinth as some of it forms shapes that can be viewed from a distance stretching towards the islands on the waters. Water-hyacinth is a floating plant that has clusters of leaves with spongy stalks arising from a base of dark […]

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Uganda lake victoria fishery fishermen fishing boat water hyacinth flora aquatic plants floating invasive species environment.

Visiting Lake Victoria, one of the visible features at first sight is the green water hyacinth as some of it forms shapes that can be viewed from a distance stretching towards the islands on the waters.

Water-hyacinth is a floating plant that has clusters of leaves with spongy stalks arising from a base of dark purple feathery roots. The leaf clusters are often linked by smooth horizontal stems- stolon.

Talking to Simon Magezi, one of the elders at Gabba lading site, it is not clear where and when the feature existed on Lake Victoria(Nalubaale).

It is only speculated that the plant is native to South America so it appears to have reached Lake Victoria due to human activity.

“I have lived at this landing site since 194 and this water hyacinth ‘Ekyiddo’ is not something found while growing up. It only came into existence around the time Museveni’s regime came to power and no one should deceive you that he or she knows how it came here but we believe that it must be as a result of nature,” say Magezi.

Water hyacinth at the shores of lake victoria in Ggaba

However, some researchers have it that with its beauty, it might have been brought over as an ornamental for garden ponds. The consensus is that water hyacinth entered Lake Victoria from Rwanda via the river Kagera, probably in the 1980s. The hyacinth has since spread prolifically, as a result of  lack of natural predators, an abundance of space, agreeable temperature conditions, and abundant nutrients, including increasing heavy metal pollution in the lake.

According to Ibrahim Kizito, one of the members of the fishing committee at the site, the beautiful species move all over the lake in favor of the wind movements.

“When the wind blows this side, then the water hyacinth moves and just settles in the end sides of the lake for at least weeks or months until the wind changes direction,” submitted Kizito.

However, he added that in most of the times when it fails to move then the locals together with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) take up the initiative to remove it and lean the waters.

There are indications that water hyacinths can provide benefits to the Lake Victoria Region in a way that it attempts to purify eutrophicated water. Once established, the plants can also be harvested and used for biogas production, fertilizer, crafts among other things.

However, it affects the Lake Victorian population in many negative ways that among others are;

Sometimes there are economic impacts when the weed blocks boat movements and access. The effects on transportation and fishing are immediately felt. Where the weed is prolific, there is a general increase in several diseases, as the weed creates excellent breeding areas for mosquitoes and other insects.

It can smother aquatic life by de-oxygenating the water, and it reduces nutrients for young fish in sheltered bays. It has blocked supply intakes for the hydroelectric plant, interrupting electrical power for entire cities. The weed also interrupts local subsistence fishing, blocking access to the beaches.

Water hyacinth in Ggaba

Water hyacinths increased rapidly between 1992–1998, were greatly reduced by 2001, and have since resurged to a lesser degree. Management techniques include (hyacinth-eating) insect controls and manual beach cleanup efforts. A water hyacinth infestation is seldom totally eradicated. Instead, it is a situation that must be continually managed.

 

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Uganda President Museveni roots for biological methods to kill mosquitoes https://www.weinformers.com/2011/07/04/uganda-president-museveni-roots-for-biological-methods-to-kill-mosquitoes/ https://www.weinformers.com/2011/07/04/uganda-president-museveni-roots-for-biological-methods-to-kill-mosquitoes/#respond Mon, 04 Jul 2011 19:04:01 +0000 http://www.weinformers.net/?p=13815 President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that Uganda is already working on a biological method to kill mosquito larvae and is also experimenting with scientifically tested local herbs to kill the mosquito. The President is however calling for more researchers to work on a scientific method to destroy mosquito larvae as one of the best methods […]

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President Yoweri Museveni has revealed that Uganda is already working on a biological method to kill mosquito larvae and is also experimenting with scientifically tested local herbs to kill the mosquito.

Yellow fever spread by Mosquitoes

The President is however calling for more researchers to work on a scientific method to destroy mosquito larvae as one of the best methods to eliminate malaria causing mosquitoes. He says methods of using bacteria and herbs are promising.

“The solution to kill the mosquito is to destroy it at larvae stage,” Museveni said during a dinner hosted by the Chairperson of the African Leaders Malaria Allliance (ALMA) President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania at the African Union Village in Sipopo, Equatorial Guinea.

ALMA is an alliance of African Heads of State working to end malaria- related deaths. It was founded by the leaders to utilize their individual and collective power to keep malaria high on the political and policy agenda at the global, national and local levels President Kikwete hosted the luncheon at the sidelines of the 17th, Ordinary Summit of the assembly of the Africa Union taking place in the capital Malabo on Bioko Island during which a report on the achievements and challenges of the ALMA scorecard was presented to the heads of state showing a significant progress towards the achievement of the universal coverage of key malaria interventions but calling for further strengthening of funding for the alliance to ensure that these impressive signs are sustained and universal coverage is reached.

President Yoweri Museveni is one of the four African leaders who received awards for their exemplary leadership in accelerating and sustaining access to malaria control and treatment commodities at a high level meeting of ALMA in Addis Ababa this year.

Recipients of the awards are leaders that have banned the importation and use of oral artemisinin-based monotherapies which cause drug resistance that weakens the effectiveness of the recommended malaria treatments. Additionally, they have also removed tariffs on essential commodities used in the fight against malaria. Other countries included Guinea, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

 

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