The Ministry of Health is seeking US$17.6 million (Shs64 billion) to finance Key Ebola prevention activities to be carried out in the country.
Health Minister Dr. Ruth Jane Aceng said the ministry will be carrying out a three months Ebola awareness campaign in about 20 districts that are prone to Ebola outbreak. This is in order to educate the public about the disease since Uganda is still an Ebola prone country.
Among the key activities which the Shs64 billion will be funding include community awareness about Ebola, case management and Infections control, supporting improvement in diseases Surveillance and Laboratory related activities among other activities related to Ebola disease management.
“As Ministry we want to bring on board all stakeholders in the highest risk districts towards fighting the out brake of Ebola when communities are empowered then chance of controlling the diseases is high. When the local communities are not in collaborative then ministry of health will not achieve any goal towards the fight of Ebola,” she told Journalists at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala last week.
She added by noting that for the country to be safe from the out brake of cross boarder disease such as Ebola there’s need to put in place strong surveillance system that looks at Diseases diagnosis and cross border movement of people especially between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside Southern Sudan.
How the money will be spent
According to the minister, the ministry plan to spent about Shs1 billion on Coordination and Leadership engagement , then Shs14.4 billion will go on Community Engagement ,on the side of Diseases case and Infections management the ministry of health plans to spent on it about Shs18 billion followed by Vaccination and Diseases Investigation this will cost Government about Shs1.7 billion the rest of the resources will fund Ebola related activities.
On 11 June 2019, the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MoH) has confirmed a case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Kasese district, Uganda. The disease is believed to be originated from Democratic Republic of Congo to see that Uganda is safer from the burden of the Viral Disease, the Government of Uganda and her Development partners mobilized resources at the tune of about US$ 18.6million towards supporting activities related to Ebola fight.
Speaking at the same event, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative and the head of Mission in Uganda Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam said the Health Agency of the United Nations is committed to work with Uganda and other countries in the region to ensure that Ebola is contained
“We have built strong coordination between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo that is how we managed to control the spread of Ebola in other parts of the Country (Uganda) through the various interventions…,” he said.
On whether Uganda is Ebola free country
The Minister said Uganda is not yet declared Ebola free as it was reported by various media outlets in the country. Aceng said Uganda can’t be free when her neighbour DRC is still registering an outbreak of Ebola cases.
“What was reported in the media is fault Uganda is not yet Ebola free but what we have achieved is to contain the outbreak of the Diseases currently we have not registered any Outbreak of Ebola despite the fact that we get cases alerts from various parts of the country but all the test are negatives,” she told the media.
BY SAMUEL NABWIISO
