Qcil Rallies Luzira in the Fight Against Malaria

World Malaria Day | 25 April 2025 | St Stephen’s Church, Luzira – Kampala

Quality Chemical Industries Limited (Qcil) transformed World Malaria Day into a lifeline. At first light, health-care tents unfurled across the grounds of St Stephen’s Church in Luzira, the neighbourhood that has housed Qcil’s manufacturing facility for nearly eighteen years. By sunset, hundreds of residents, many children and mothers, had received free testing, treatment, and hope.

 Malaria remains Uganda’s deadliest infectious disease, claiming more than 37,000 lives in 2023 alone. Children under five and expectant mothers shoulder the heaviest burden, facing fever alongside the threat of stillbirth, low birth weight, and crushing medical bills. Confronted with these statistics, Qcil, Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest maker of WHO-prequalified antimalarial medicines, resolved to turn World Malaria Day from a symbolic date into decisive action.

 At the Qcil–medical camp, residents moved through a seamless circuit of care that offered rapid malaria testing with immediate treatment, blood-pressure checks paired with hypertension counselling, pediatric consultations that included full cardiac and respiratory assessments, antenatal exams accompanied by nutrition guidance for expectant mothers, diabetes screenings with follow-up planning, and practical demonstrations on proper bed-net use and other malaria-prevention techniques—addressing urgent health needs and long-term wellness in a single visit.

 Earlier in the week, Qcil teams joined neighbours in Kisenyi-Luzira for a community clean-up and fumigation drive, clearing rubbish, draining stagnant water, and treating mosquito-breeding sites. By removing the very habitats where mosquitoes thrive, the clean-up turned prevention into a collective neighbourhood cause.

_{Qcil team clearing rubbish in Kisenyi-Luzira community ahead of World Malaria Day.}

“My most sincere gratitude goes to Qcil for shouldering the cost of care today,” said Milly Tumwebaze, a senior community nurse from Mengo Hospital. “Families who might wait months to see a clinician were served in minutes—plus their streets are now safer from mosquitoes.”

By sunset, the clinic had served 569 residents—223 men and 346 women—treating 42 malaria cases (27 laboratory-confirmed), identifying and stabilising 41 people with dangerously high blood pressure, diagnosing 28 new cases of diabetes, soothing 154 upper-respiratory infections with medication and advice, and placing more than 200 insecticide-treated nets in caregivers’ hands; an additional 55 patients with malignant hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes, or surgical conditions departed with referral letters for specialised care at Mengo Hospital.

^{Qcil Team member takes a blood sample from a woman at St Stephen’s Church in Luzira on World Malaria Day}

Speaking like a neighbour, Fred Andrew Kakooza, Qcil’s Chief Finance Officer, shared:  “Luzira has been our home for nearly two decades. We are more than manufacturers; we are partners in your fight against malaria. Our commitment to you is that we ensure you have access to quality and affordable malaria medicine whenever you need it. ”

 Harrison Kiggundu, Head of Human Resources, added that the outreach embodied Qcil’s core mission: “improving quality of life by ensuring effective, affordable medicines reach those who need them most.”

 Through the clean up and medical camp Qcil recommitted to improving the quality of life by increasing access to effective, affordable medicines under the World Malaria Day call to “Reinvest, Reimagine, Reignite.”