Background: While 5% of 247 million global malaria cases are reported in Uganda, it is also a top refugee hosting country in Africa, with over 1.36 million refugees. Despite malaria being an emerging challenge for humanitarian response in refugee settlements, little is known about its risk factors. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for malaria infections among children under 5 years of age in refugee settlements in Uganda. Methods: We utilized data from Uganda’s Malaria Indicator Survey which was conducted between December 2018 and February 2019 at the peak of malaria season. In this national survey, household level information was obtained using standardized questionnaires and a total of 7787 children under 5 years of age were tested for malaria using mainly the rapid diagnostic test. We focused on 675 malaria tested children under five in refugee settlements located in Yumbe, Arua, Adjumani, Moyo, Lamwo, Kiryadongo, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge and Isingiro districts. The extracted variables included prevalence of malaria, demographic, social-economic and environmental information. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify and define the malaria associated risk factors. Results: Overall, malaria prevalence in all refugee settlements across the nine hosting districts was 36.6%. Malaria infections were higher in refugee settlements located in Isingiro (98.7%), Kyegegwa (58.6%) and Arua (57.4%) districts. Several risk factors were significantly associated with acquisition of malaria including fetching water from open water sources [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.22, 95% CI: 0.08–0.59, P = 0.002], boreholes (aOR = 2.11, 95% CI: 0.91–4.89, P = 0.018) and water tanks (aOR = 4.47, 95% CI: 1.67–11.9, P = 0.002). Other factors included pit-latrines (aOR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.03–2.13, P = 0.033), open defecation (aOR = 3.29, 95% CI: 1.54–7.05, P = 0.002), lack of insecticide treated bed nets (aOR = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.43–3.13, P = 0.003) and knowledge on the causes of malaria (aOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.79–1.51, P = 0.005). Conclusions: The persistence of the malaria infections were mainly due to open water sources, poor hygiene, and lack of preventive measures that enhanced mosquito survival and infection. Malaria elimination in refugee settlements requires an integrated control approach that combines environmental management with other complementary measures like insecticide treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying and awareness. Graphical

An assessment of the socio-economic implications of landslide occurrence in the Kigezi highlands of South Western Uganda was conducted. Landslide occurrence is on the increase and threatens community livelihoods in these highlands. Detailed field investigations were undertaken with the help of local communities between June 2018 and May 2020 to identify and map recent and visible landslide scars in Rukiga uplands of Kigezi highlands. In the course of field inventories, 85 visible landslide scars were identified and mapped using handheld GPS receivers to produce a landslide distribution map for the study area. A socio-economic analysis was conducted to establish the effects of landslide damage on people’s livelihoods as well as their existing coping and adaptation mechanisms. The assessment was administered through field observations and surveying, focus group discussions, key informants and household interviews as well as the use of Local Government Environmental Reports. The study established an increase in the spatial-temporal distribution of landslides over the Kigezi highlands in the past 40 years. The landslides have resulted in a reduction in the quality of land, loss of lives, destruction of transport infrastructures, settlements, farmlands, crops and other socio-economic infrastructures. Therefore, it is important to look for reliable and sustainable measures to prevent landslide hazards. Total landscape reforestation with deep-rooted trees can possibly reduce the landslide risk. It is also important to undertake policy implementation for preparedness and mitigation plans against landslides in this region and in the country at large. Proper soil and water conservation measures could help in enhancing soil strength against landslide hazards.

Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies aims to engage, inform, and catalyse scholarly discourse within research and real-world practices that work towards the minimisation of vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout developing communities with special emphasis on Africa.

The upper Rwizi river system in South Western Uganda has been severely degraded due to encroachment and unsustainable resource utilization. Little is, however, known about the link between the upper Rwizi macro-watershed health and land use/cover patterns from the spatiotemporal perspective. This study evaluated the relationship between spatiotemporal land use/ cover change and upper river Rwizi macro watershed health. Remotely sensed data was used to analyze the spatiotemporal land use and cover distribution for upper Rwizi macro watershed. The analysis was done using Landsat and Sentinel imagery datasets spanning 1990 to 2020 and 2016 to 2021 respectively. Field verification was undertaken to confirm the land use, cover types, and evaluate the implications of prevailing anthropogenic activities on the watershed health. The land use and cover characteristics in the upper Rwizi macro-watershed exhibits both highly spatial and temporal variations. By 1990, grassland as the dominant land use and cover type spanned 45% of the total study area followed by farmland at 30%. Forests, open water and settlements covered 12%, 10% and 3% respectively. Whereas grassland and forest cover has diminished drastically by 64% and 71% respectively, settlements and farmland have increased tremendously by 79% and 50% respectively between 1990 and 2020. The hillslope hydrological characteristics in the watershed are severely hampered due to increased human activities. It is, therefore, recommended that afforestation in the degraded areas be undertaken to restore the watershed health which could improve on hillslope hydrology.

Background: Malaria risk factors at household level are known to be complex, uncertain, stochastic, nonlinear, and multidimensional. The interplay among these factors, makes targeted interventions, and resource allocation for malaria control challenging. However, few studies have demonstrated malaria’s transmission complexity, control, and integrated modelling, with no available evidence on Uganda’s refugee settlements. Using the 2018–2019 Uganda’s Malaria Indicator Survey (UMIS) data, an alternative Bayesian belief network (BBN) modelling approach was used to analyse, predict, rank and illustrate the conceptual reasoning, and complex causal relationships among the risk factors for malaria infections among children under-five in refugee settlements of Uganda. Methods: In the UMIS, household level information was obtained using standardized questionnaires, and a total of 675 children under 5 years were tested for malaria. From the dataset, a casefile containing malaria test results, demographic, social-economic and environmental information was created. The casefile was divided into a training (80%, n = 540) and testing (20%, n = 135) datasets. The training dataset was used to develop the BBN model following well established guidelines. The testing dataset was used to evaluate model performance. Results: Model accuracy was 91.11% with an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.95. The model’s spherical payoff was 0.91, with the logarithmic, and quadratic losses of 0.36, and 0.16 respectively, indicating a strong predictive, and classification ability of the model. The probability of refugee children testing positive, and negative for malaria was 48.1% and 51.9% respectively. The top ranked malaria risk factors based on the sensitivity analysis included: (1) age of child; (2) roof materials (i.e., thatch roofs); (3) wall materials (i.e., poles with mud and thatch walls); (4) whether children sleep under insecticide-treated nets; 5) type of toilet facility used (i.e., no toilet facility, and pit latrines with slabs); (6) walk time distance to water sources (between 0 and 10 min); (7) drinking water sources (i.e., open water sources, and piped water on premises). Conclusion: Ranking, rather than the statistical significance of the malaria risk factors, is crucial as an approach to applied research, as it helps stakeholders determine how to allocate resources for targeted malaria interventions within the constraints of limited funding in the refugee settlements.