East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 29th September, 2022: The East African Community Secretariat has urged EAC Partner States to enhance emergency preparedness and response activities following an outbreak of Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) in Uganda.
Health authorities in Uganda have declared an outbreak of Ebola after a case of the Sudan ebolavirus was confirmed in Mubende District in the Central part of the country. As at 24th September, 2022, there were four confirmed deaths and a total of 34 EVD case patients, 16 of which are confirmed.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 28th July, 2022: The EAC Secretariat together with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have organized a three-day (3rd - 5th August, 2022) Regional Workshop for Cross-Border Health Programming in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The workshop is part of efforts to deepen regional cooperation in the health sector to reduce healthcare disparities and enhance cross-border health cooperation in line with the EAC Health Policy.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 13th July, 2022: The 22nd Ordinary Meeting of the East African Community (EAC) Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for Health is currently underway via hybrid means.
The meeting that started on 11th July is expected to run until 15th July at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 4th July, 2022: A 21 days East African Community (EAC) Training of Trainers (ToT) for the Bacteriological Pathogen identification and Antibiotic Resistance detection is currently underway at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
The main objective of the three-week (20th June – 8th July, 2022) training is to equip experts with comprehensive skills and knowledge on the diagnosis of the major bacterial pathogens in clinical samples and detecting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria isolates.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 16th June, 2022: East African Community (EAC) Partner States have been urged to provide necessary information for their citizens to protect themselves against monkeypox and prevent the virus from spreading.
This follows reports by the World Health Organization (WHO) of 780 laboratory confirmed cases of monkeypox as of 2ndJune, 2022. The cases have been reported to or identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) from 27 Member States across four WHO regions that are not endemic for monkeypox virus, while Monkeypox is endemic in some African countries.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 17th May, 2022: The East African Community (EAC), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) have officially handed over handwashing facilities to authorities in six EAC Partner States as part of efforts to strengthen cross border collaboration on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). A total of 32 such facilities have been built in high risk areas for the spread of infectious diseases in the six countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The cooperation project that ended with the hand-over of these facilities also included risk and crisis communication and sensitization measures in the respective communities.
The handwashing facility at Kamanga Point of Entry in the city of Mwanza was handed over to the government of Tanzania on 14 May, 2022. This happened during a regional meeting held from 12 to 14 May, 2022 in Mwanza that brought together national authorities, experts, decision-makers, and key stockholders from across the EAC region. The meeting also aimed to identify and address gaps in strengthening cross-border preparedness and response and promote regional standards and policies in accordance with the International Health Standards (IHS).
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 6 May 2022: The East African Community Secretariat today held the first simulation exercise (SIMEX) since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in order to strengthen preparedness and bolster response to future public health emergencies in the Partner States.
The exercise is part of a one-week regional training workshop to strengthen national capacities for exercise operations at ports of entry and is a follow up on Table Top exercise conducted in Arusha in 2018 and the cross-border field simulation exercise at the Namanga border between Kenya and Tanzania in June 2019.
The simulation exercise, taking place at Kilimanjaro International Airport in the United Republic of Tanzania, is intended to test the knowledge and skills acquired by the participants during the training workshop. The aim of the exercise is to link early warning with preparedness and response. The logistics drill includes a realistic disaster scenario which will help the participants to build skills for design and implementation of simulation exercises at national level.
Kilimanjaro International Airport Security Manager, Justine Makomondi Kisusi, confirmed that the exercise is necessary for strengthening readiness to respond to public health emergencies: “We are delighted to receive all delegates for this emergency simulation exercise, as it will help us combat future outbreaks”.
In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, in recent years, the East African Community (EAC) has experienced numerous outbreaks of infectious diseases and other events of public health concern, such as droughts and floods. In the African Region, about 100 public health events are reported annually. In the last three years, East Africa has had several disease outbreaks such as yellow fever, cholera, Rift Valley fever, Marburg virus disease, measles and Ebola. The region is also prone to natural disasters such floods, landslides and drought. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need to enhance public health emergency capacities at ports of entry.
To better prepare for public health emergencies, the EAC Secretariat, with support of WHO and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, conducted a training of 60 emergency response experts and officials from Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda on management of public health emergencies at ports of entry. The participants were selected from various One Health sectors including health, environment, agriculture and animal heath, trade, tourism and defence.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Dr David Balikowa from the East African Community noted that it is critical to keep “assessing and improving the regional health crisis response capacity and status of implementation of the International Health Regulations”. Dr Mary Stephen, the WHO Regional Office for Africa Focal Point for International Health Regulations reminded participants of the increasing occurrence of emerging and re-emerging diseases which present immense challenges to detect and contain. The Manager of the EAC/GIZ Support to Pandemic Preparedness in the EAC Region project in Arusha, Tanzania, Dr Irene Lukassowitz, agrees on the need to be prepared for future outbreaks, as “fighting for more resilient health systems can also help withstanding the shock if disaster and potential damage from emergencies”.
For more information, please contact:
Simon Peter Owaka Senior Public Relations Officer Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department EAC Secretariat Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 768 552087 Email: sowaka [at] eachq.org
About the East African Community Secretariat:
The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of six Partner States, comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 25th March 2022: The EAC Secretariat urges Partner States to take appropriate steps to ensure maximum benefit from farming as the region is expected to receive normal rains over the next few months after almost two years of persistent drought in some EAC areas. This comes after the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development has predicted normal rains over East Africa from March to May
“This is good news for the region, though the situation might differ from country to country. Expert guidance is important so that farmers are not over optimistic in case the rains end earlier than usual, but also that the opportunity is not lost,” says Hon Christophe Bazivamo, EAC Deputy Secretary General, Productive and Social Sectors.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 23rdMarch 2022: On World Water Day, marked on the 22nd of March the United Nations recognizes the critical and multidimensional role that water plays for individuals, households, communities, governments and businesses globally.
Access to safe drinking water – a precious resource often taken for granted – is a human right. However, access to clean, affordable water remains a real challenge for many people in the East and Horn of Africa, with vulnerable groups being disproportionately affected. Beyond using it for drinking, water also plays an enormous role in preserving the health of people across the region.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 10thMarch 2022: The East African Community Secretariat urges EAC Partner States to step up measures to prevent and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases following heavy rains in parts of the EAC region. The recommendation follows reports of an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Kenya that has caused the death of at least three people and information on outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) among livestock in EAC Partner States received by the EAC Secretariat.
“The heavy rainfalls and high temperatures have resulted in high numbers of mosquitos which transmit vector-borne diseases,” says EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors, Hon. Christophe Bazivamo. He has urged EAC Partner States to report such outbreaks to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as required and cautioned that the outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever might be followed by human cases if adequate measures are not taken in time. He also alled for EAC Partner States to step up disease surveillance, control, and vaccination against Yellow Fever among their citizens.
