East African states set up Ebola virus task force
Health |
The regional bloc also agreed to continue helping West Africa in fighting the deadly virus.
The East African Community (EAC)'s health council has decided to set up a regional emergency-preparedness and response task force to counter Ebola and other communicable diseases in the region.
"The council has also directed the EAC Secretariat to mobilize $750,000 from the EAC reserve fund to support implementation of the fight against Ebola," Kenyan Health Secretary James Macharia, who also serves as council chairman, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview in Arusha, where the EAC has its headquarters.
He said the EAC's five member states would convene a meeting of experts next week to provide technical guidance on the logistical, human resources and infrastructural aspects of epidemic preparedness and response.
In recent months, Ebola a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure has killed at least 4,546 people in the three West African states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
Nigeria, for its part, also in West Africa, has registered eight Ebola deaths.
A tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.
"We also decided to facilitate harmonization of the standard operating procedures and guidelines for screening passengers across the border [and at] international ports of entry in the EAC, in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR)," said Macharia.
The IHR, which came into effect in 2007 and is binding on 196 countries across the globe, is meant to help prevent and respond to acute public health risks that have the potential to cross international borders.
-Stigma-
The EAC, a regional bloc of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, also agreed to continue helping its fellow Africans in the western region of the continent, which has been the hardest hit by Ebola.
"EAC partner states have so far contributed 41 medical experts, 578 health workers and funds to support Ebola containment in West Africa," Macharia told AA.
He went on to criticize the way the international media was reporting on the Ebola crisis.
"Africa should not be prejudiced [against] because of what is happening in one country or some parts of the continent," he said.
"In fact, Africa should not be discriminated against in general as an Ebola region, because we now have Ebola cases in Europe and the U.S.," he added.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named White House veteran Ron Klain, a former chief-of-staff to Vice President Joe Biden and former vice president Al Gore, as the "czar" of Washington's anti-Ebola campaign.
Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, succumbed to Ebola in the U.S. on October 8.
Two nurses who treated him, meanwhile, have since contracted the virus.
And two Spanish priests recently died in Madrid after contracting Ebola while in West Africa.
"Ebola is now a worldwide concern," Macharia asserted.
"We should combine all our efforts to combat the problem," he added, "and Africa should be respected during the fight."
Anadolu Agency
"The council has also directed the EAC Secretariat to mobilize $750,000 from the EAC reserve fund to support implementation of the fight against Ebola," Kenyan Health Secretary James Macharia, who also serves as council chairman, told Anadolu Agency in an exclusive interview in Arusha, where the EAC has its headquarters.
He said the EAC's five member states would convene a meeting of experts next week to provide technical guidance on the logistical, human resources and infrastructural aspects of epidemic preparedness and response.
In recent months, Ebola a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure has killed at least 4,546 people in the three West African states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.
Nigeria, for its part, also in West Africa, has registered eight Ebola deaths.
A tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.
"We also decided to facilitate harmonization of the standard operating procedures and guidelines for screening passengers across the border [and at] international ports of entry in the EAC, in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR)," said Macharia.
The IHR, which came into effect in 2007 and is binding on 196 countries across the globe, is meant to help prevent and respond to acute public health risks that have the potential to cross international borders.
-Stigma-
The EAC, a regional bloc of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, also agreed to continue helping its fellow Africans in the western region of the continent, which has been the hardest hit by Ebola.
"EAC partner states have so far contributed 41 medical experts, 578 health workers and funds to support Ebola containment in West Africa," Macharia told AA.
He went on to criticize the way the international media was reporting on the Ebola crisis.
"Africa should not be prejudiced [against] because of what is happening in one country or some parts of the continent," he said.
"In fact, Africa should not be discriminated against in general as an Ebola region, because we now have Ebola cases in Europe and the U.S.," he added.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named White House veteran Ron Klain, a former chief-of-staff to Vice President Joe Biden and former vice president Al Gore, as the "czar" of Washington's anti-Ebola campaign.
Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, succumbed to Ebola in the U.S. on October 8.
Two nurses who treated him, meanwhile, have since contracted the virus.
And two Spanish priests recently died in Madrid after contracting Ebola while in West Africa.
"Ebola is now a worldwide concern," Macharia asserted.
"We should combine all our efforts to combat the problem," he added, "and Africa should be respected during the fight."
Anadolu Agency
