A rapid diagnostic test for malaria is proving to be a success in Uganda

Robert Tamale sits behind his cluttered desk inside the Kisala health centre, a two-room concrete structure that lies 40 kilometres from the nearest paved road. The afternoon is drawing to a close, but there are still half a dozen patients waiting to see him. Tamale, a nursing assistant, single-handedly manages the 60 or so patients who turn up on an average day. That number has gone up recently, he says – ever since word spread that he had a stock of the new rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. "[People] are coming from the neighbouring district, where they don't have RDTs," he says. "I have a big workload, because people are rushing here to be tested." Despite the extra work, Tamale is happy to have the tests, which he describes as "quick and easy" to use. Plus, they have allowed him to keep a tighter rein on his limited supply of medicines. "Now, we are giving less malaria drugs," he says. "Before, the drugs were – let me say – misused, because we would give to every person who comes complaining of malaria." These days, he gives the drugs only to those people who have a positive result on their RDT. That is the rule, and he says it is working. "People do agree with the results," he says. "If we find it's negative, he cannot complain – he just tells you of any other type of pain he's feeling, or it might be another type of infection, which we try to detect."