The Ministry of Health has intensified MPOX screening at the Malaba border post after confirming 10 cases in 23 districts within the country.
Chandrin Okule, the Malaba Border Post Health In-Charge, said on Thursday, 12, 2024, during an interview that the World Health Organization, through the Ministry of Health, has donated several pieces of health equipment to aid the screening processes.
Okule reveals that on average, they screen around 250 entrants daily, and because of enough space, they are positioned to screen all the travelers, including the drivers and all the travelers coming from Kenya to Malaba.
“We screen them, those whom we suspect are isolated, before being subjected to further screening at the Central Public Health Laboratories in Kampala (CPHL),” Okule said.
He further emphasized that they work in shifts so that they don’t leave any other traveler unscreened.
The screening of MPOX at the Malaba border point is part of health measures being implemented by the Ministry of Health in response to rising cases of the disease.
The Ministry of Health confirmed the outbreak of MPOX on July 25, 2024, after the case was first confirmed in Burundi.
Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda reported their first MPOX cases between July and August 2024.
These cases were linked to travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the outbreak had been ongoing.
On August 14, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the MPOX outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), citing the rapid spread of the disease, particularly in the DRC and neighboring countries.
