The link between malaria and sickle cell disease

On January 1, Dr Speciosa Wandira Naigaga Kazibwe, the former Vice President of Uganda, was rushed from Iganga District in eastern Uganda to Kampala and admitted directly into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The previous night, she had experienced a severe headache, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhoea, leading her to contact Dr David Muwanguzi, the medical superintendent of Iganga Referral Hospital.

Her temperature at the time was a high 40 degrees Celsius, and by the next morning, it had not decreased. She was immediately transferred to Kampala, where she was diagnosed with…