Uganda calls for calm as Kenyan Ebola patient passes through Kampala
Ugandan health officials are investigating the movement of a Kenyan citizen who traveled through Kampala after being infected with Ebola in the DR Congo. Authorities are urging calm while they conduct contact tracing and review public health screening protocols.
Why it matters
Effective cross-border monitoring is critical to preventing the spread of highly contagious diseases like Ebola in East Africa.
Ugandan health authorities have called for calm following reports by Kenya’s Ministry of Health that a patient who later died of Ebola Virus Disease in their country had travelled through Kampala via road from DR Congo before flying to Nairobi.
Mr Allan Ssempebwa Kyobe, the new spokesperson for Uganda’s Ministry of Health, said in an interview on Tuesday that Uganda’s public health protection system remains robust against such epidemics.
“I am confident that our teams are in charge and the same teams that have done a wonderful job protecting us against this epidemic will continue to do so,” Mr Ssempebwa said.
This development comes about two months after Uganda declared an end to its Ebola outbreak on July 28, even as active transmission continued in the neighbouring DR Congo.
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