- Title: Unreported World: Malaria Town (Uganda)
- Date: 1st October 2010
- Summary: Unreported World visits the 'malaria capital of the world' in northern Uganda to investigate why this preventable and treatable disease is still such a problem. Contains scenes that some viewers may find disturbing. Reporter Oliver Steeds and director William West reveal that corruption is behind the theft of malaria treatment, and how organic products sold on Britain's high streets also play a role in the continuing the pandemic. When singer Cheryl Cole collapsed from malaria and was rushed to intensive care in July after a trip to Africa, it highlighted how dangerous the disease still is. Cole was lucky to survive: she received proper, timely treatment. Unlike her, almost a million Africans die every year from malaria. Steeds and West begin their journey in the town of Apac. Surrounded by a vast mosquito-infested swamp, it's the malaria capital of the world. People here are bitten on average six times a night, the highest rate anywhere. The local hospital is overrun, with more than 5,000 malaria patients turning up each week. Twenty-four-year-old Harriet is one of them, violently convulsing as her desperate relatives try to pin her down. She has cerebral malaria, the most deadly strain. Her mother says her family has been ripped apart as Harriet has already lost three children to malaria. Many of the patients admitted with the disease are under five and the pediatric ward is overflowing with youngsters. The team meets a mother cradling the body of her six-week-old daughter. Her father, Jasper, tells Steeds the hospital has run out of medicine to treat malaria patients. In the pharmacy the dire shortage is clear: there's only one box of anti-malarial drugs left. Those wanting treatment have to go outside and buy whatever vital medicine they need. The pharmacist tells Steeds: 'if you can't pay for the drugs, you die.' Over the course of a year, Uganda has been given more than å£20 million of anti-malarial drugs by the international community, but the reality is that not all the aid is reaching the people who need it. The team follows a special government unit set up to investigate where the missing drugs have gone. During raids on several private clinics they find aid from various countries on sale to the public; everything from US mosquito nets to Chinese anti-malarial pills. The detective in charge says huge quantities of drugs are being stolen from hospitals and sold on the black market. The World Health Organization says that indoor insecticide spraying is the best way to rapidly reduce the mosquito threat. However Unreported World reveals that this preventative measure isn't welcomed by all. The team meets a group of organic farmers who say they make their living by growing crops for sale to retailers in Britain and elsewhere. But they've been told by exporters that if they spray their homes, they will lose their organic status and be unable to sell their crops. The villagers are caught in a terrible dilemma: to spray and potentially save their children's lives or to not spray and retain their ability to earn enough money to feed their families. With limited alternatives for income many would rather risk their health than destroy their livelihoods. Returning to Apac hospital, Steeds finds Harriet's family have pooled their resources and spent their life savings on her treatment. She has a long way to go but the prognosis is good: she will survive despite the odds, unlike the 320 people who die every day in Uganda. While a campaign of insecticide spraying, distribution of free mosquito nets and drugs could dramatically reduce malaria death rates, the long-term solution is a vaccine which would free ordinary people from the corruption and mismanagement that too often costs them their lives.
- Description:Critically acclaimed foreign affairs series offering an insight into the lives of people in some of the most neglected parts of the planet.
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Quicksilver Films Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 11
- Transmission Date:01/10/2010
- Rights:UK and Eire
- Decade: 2010s