Uganda braces for Ebola

Uganda has vaccinated thousands of health workers against Ebola to counter the spread of the deadly virus from its neighbour the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a severe illness in humans. The approximate case fatality rate is 50%. The first outbreaks of Ebola occurred in 1976 in remote Central African villages, near tropical rainforests. The Democratic Republic of Congo was one of the first places where the disease was identified. The small Yambuku village, the centre of one of the first outbreaks, is located near the Ebola River, from which the disease gets its name. 

It is believed that the disease was introduced to humans due to close contact with infected animals such as gorillas or fruit bats in the rainforest or through infected bushmeat. Ebola can be spread through human to human transmission. In women who have been infected while pregnant, the virus persists in the foetus. Symptoms of the disease include fever, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, and symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function. 

The country’s mineral wealth and economic resources have fuelled violence further as malicious players have tried to get their hands on the nation’s riches. Various groups have taken advantage of the anarchy to plunder natural resources. Violence is stoked by ethnic divisions.  A large UN peacekeeping force has been established in the east of the nation in order to keep the militia under control.

Analysis

A growing outbreak of Ebola in the Beni region of eastern DR Congo, just 50 km (30 miles) from the Ugandan border, has claimed some 268 lives among a total of 453 cases, according to figures released on Tuesday from the DRC health ministry.

Uganda, which last month announced the plan to roll out the vaccinations for front-line health workers over fears the virus could spread, said on Wednesday that it had already given the precautionary treatment to 3,000 people “because we are worried.”

“We have not waited for the first case to arrive. The vaccination is continuing,” said Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng, at a joint briefing with her Congolese counterpart Oly Ilunga in Goma.

Thousands of people cross the 15 border points between the two countries, particularly on midweek market days, she added. Giving an update on DR Congo’s own vaccine drive, Ilunga said authorities had given the treatment to some 38,000 people. “If there were no vaccines, half of those would have developed the illness, we would be at tens of thousands of victims and of deaths,” he estimated.

Eastern DR Congo is ravaged by decades of inter-ethnic bloodshed and militia violence, hampering the response to the Ebola outbreak, which is testing a large UN peacekeeping mission deployed in the country.

DR Congo last month kicked off campaigning for a crucial Dec. 23 election, to choose a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has constitutionally remained in power as a caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended nearly two years ago.

Ilunga said each polling station in the affected areas would have an area for disinfection and to check temperatures. “During the entire epidemic we have not shut down social life. The markets are open, the schools are open, the churches have not closed,” he said. “We think that the organization of the elections are not an additional risk.”

Assessment

Our assessment is that the resurgence of the disease in North Kivu, an active conflict area that is home to more than 1 million displaced people, will present fresh challenges to the authorities. Kivu is also the bordering district with Uganda, meaning the fleeing people maybe be carrying the virus into refugee camps in Uganda. We believe that Uganda has taken the correct precautionary measures to prevent an outbreak within their borders. 

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