World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged Uganda to lend its expertise and resources to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as it battles a fresh Ebola outbreak.

 

Dr Tedros was speaking on Monday during a meeting at the Mulago Ebola Treatment Centre in Kampala with Uganda’s senior health officials, where he praised the country’s response as a model for the region.“You have the experience and you can do it,” he told the Ugandan health team, led by the Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, and the Director-General of Health Services, Dr Charles Olaro.“Screening at the borders has helped detect cases arriving from neighbouring DRC, and the country’s surveillance, testing and case management systems are working steadily.”Of the 19 confirmed cases recorded so far in Uganda, 14 involve people who entered from the DRC, while five are Ugandan nationals. Official data shows that two people from the DRC have died.“WHO is supporting Uganda, alongside Africa CDC and partners across the region, as the country leads this response. With continued collaboration, I am confident this outbreak can be brought under control,” Dr Tedros said.

Regional solidarityThe WHO emphasised the importance of regional solidarity and cross-border cooperation in preventing the virus from spreading further across the region.

In May, African health ministers meeting in Kampala made similar calls, urging stronger regional solidarity and support for the DRC as it battles a fresh Ebola outbreak.

At the same meeting, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni urged African countries to work together in supporting the DRC, emphasising that infectious diseases do not respect borders. He said regional cooperation, timely information sharing and coordinated response efforts are critical to containing outbreaks before they spread to neighbouring countries.

She said Uganda would send health workers to the DRC this week and establish a 50-bed Ebola treatment unit to boost the country’s capacity to isolate and treat patients.

Uganda has also set up two mobile laboratories in the border towns of Bwera and Arua to enhance testing and diagnostic services as part of broader efforts to strengthen cross-border surveillance and ensure early detection of infections in communities that frequently move between the two countries.

Border responseAccording to Dr Atwine, Uganda has established robust response structures, measures and countermeasures, and all known cases have been imported, with more than 90 percent already in quarantine after testing positive.

While briefing another meeting of members of the African Diplomatic Corps resident in Uganda, she described institutional quarantine as one of the most effective control measures in such situations.

She said extreme measures adopted by countries outside the region, including negative travel advisories and travel bans, were unfortunate. The United States, Canada and the Bahamas are among the countries that have issued stringent travel advisories for their citizens and travellers from Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan.

Dr Atwine argued that such measures could affect the management of future outbreaks by discouraging transparency and timely reporting.“We need to strengthen a joint Uganda-DRC response plan, build up cross-border surveillance and support regional mechanisms to combat a possible regional Ebola outbreak,” she said.

Dr Tedros later met President Museveni at State House Entebbe, where he again praised Uganda’s prompt response, saying border screening, surveillance, testing and case-management systems were helping to contain the outbreak.

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