Health ministers from the eight countries of the East African Community (EAC) have agreed on “urgent regional measures” to strengthen the response to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has spread to Uganda.
The ministers, who met in a virtual emergency session on Monday and Tuesday (2), agreed to “harmonize Ebola surveillance and protective measures at all airports, ports, and land border crossings in the region,” the EAC said in a statement cited by the EFE news agency.
The leaders expressed “concern” about the ongoing outbreak and emphasized the need for collective action to prevent “further cross-border transmission within the region.” Accordingly, they instructed member states to implement surveillance and control measures in affected areas, at points of entry, and at porous borders, in accordance with national regulations and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
In addition, the ministers called for the “urgent” convening of a regional meeting to harmonize “control procedures, health declaration requirements for travelers, and other public health measures at points of entry.”
Industry leaders also decided to establish “a regional technical working group to coordinate the response to the current outbreak.” This team will be composed of experts appointed by the member states and will be responsible for “monitoring the outbreak, coordinating technical interventions, analyzing epidemiological trends, and submitting periodic reports” to the ministers.
Policy makers also emphasized the importance of “sharing epidemiological information in real time” to facilitate early case detection and support a coordinated regional response.
To strengthen epidemiological surveillance and laboratory capacity, they urged member countries to “facilitate and maintain the deployment of EAC mobile laboratories and technical experts at strategic locations, including border entry points and identified outbreak sites.”
Early this morning, the DRC government raised the number of confirmed cases of the Ebola epidemic to 363, including 62 deaths, representing an increase of 19 infections and two deaths, respectively, since last Tuesday.
The outbreak was initially officially declared on May 15 in Ituri Province, on the border with Uganda and South Sudan, but it has since spread to the eastern Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.
The epidemic has spread to Uganda, where 15 cases have been detected so far, including one death believed to be an imported case from the DRC.
The outbreak is associated with the Bundibugyo strain, which has a case fatality rate ranging from 30% to 50% and for which there is no authorized vaccine or specific treatment, according to the WHO, which considers the risk to be “high” in Sub-Saharan Africa and “low” globally.
The EAC, headquartered in Arusha (Tanzania), was established in 2001 with the aim of paving the way for the vision of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, who advocated for the political union of East African nations, and comprises Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, the DRC, and Somalia.
