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How KCCA has prepared for Ebola outbreak
Ugandan Medical staff members assemble beds to be used in the Ebola treatment Isolation Unit at Mubende regional referral hospital in Uganda on September 24, 2022. PHOTO/AFP
What you need to know:
- About five people have so far succumbed to Ebola Sudan strain since the ministry confirmed the outbreak of the disease on September 19.
As the Ministry of Health strives to contain the Ebola virus that has been confirmed in the Mubende and neighbouring districts, authorities in Kampala, a major business and industrial hub, have established measures to check possible infections in the city.
Speaking to journalists in Kampala yesterday on the sidelines of a meeting aimed at enhancing financing reforms for primary health care in Uganda, organised by Think Well, in partnership with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), among others, KCCA’s director of public health and environment, Dr Daniel Okello, said: “We are doing a lot of behavioural change and risk management communication. We have been on radios, the markets and the taxi parks. We are also engaging traders through Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita),” Dr Okello said.
He added: “We have also gone out to the health facilities where we are training health workers, not only in infection prevention and control, but also to enable them to undertake facility-based surveillance of patients. We have activated the community surveillance team to go out and look out for any suspected cases in the community.”
Dr Okello also noted that KCCA identified an isolation unit in Entebbe where people can be treated from in case of any infections, and that another isolation centre would be opened up in Naguru, a Kampala suburb.
Ebola in Kampala
Commenting on Ebola suspected case that passed on last week in Kansanga, a Kampala suburb, Dr Okello said the test done by the Uganda Virus Research Institute on the deceased returned negative for Ebola.
He also noted that the Kasangati Ebola suspected case also tested negative, according to the Ministry of Health.
Health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng said there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Kampala yet and urged the public to remain calm and vigilant.
About five people have so far succumbed to Ebola Sudan strain since the ministry confirmed the outbreak of the disease on September 19.
Dr Okello stressed the need for strengthening private–public partnership to increase access to different health services needed by both the rich and low income earners.
He also said KCCA had secured Shs1.7 billion from government to purchase more ambulances to boost emergency health services in both private and public health facilities in the city.
The country manager of Think Well, a health system development firm that supports local governments, KCCA and Ministry of Health to undertake strategic purchasing reforms for maternal and child health, Ms Angella Nakyazi, said since donor funding has shrunk, it is pertinent to use data and information to spend available resources in an efficient money.
