The Uganda Red Cross Society (USCS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, has held a meeting to deliberate on cross-border collaboration on Ebola virus disease and other epidemic preparedness and response to outbreaks.
The Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, while speaking at the meeting on August 22, 2023, in Kampala, noted that engaging communities in cross-border collaboration is key to managing epidemics.
“Uganda is part of the greater East African community and also part of the Horn of Africa, where epidemics such as Ebola and Marbag have occurred in the region, but because we live on the other side of the divide, the best way to manage them is at source and individually,” Dr. Kyabayinze said.
He noted that epidemics do not respect political borders, so there is a need for surveillance so that whatever information is received can be used to get prepared since we are talking about cross-border collaborations.
“Uganda is part of the East African one-stop border points that employs foot health agencies to help, so that when people are crossing between different territories, we are aware of their health status,” Dr. Kyabainze said.
The secretary general of USCS, Robert Kweisga, says that epidemics do not recognise physical borders, so a quick response, frameworks, and rules of engagement should be put in place.
“If we invest a little more in having robust accounting systems and robust supply chain procurement systems, it can be done, and part of the things we can discuss is how we can take responsibility and strengthen our systems to respond to outbreaks across borders in time,” Kweisga said.
Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Madagascar among others have sent representatives for the collective roadmap for cross-border collaboration and epidemic preparedness.
