The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) through its Regional Pandemic Preparedness and Response (PREPARE) Project on Friday announced a financial support of Shs14.4b to the Ministry of Health to tackle the Mpox/Ebola diseases through strengthening surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce development and coordination mechanisms.
The 14bn is part of the committed USD 8.3 million (31 billion UGX) allocated to support IGAD Member States, that are grappling with the effects of the Mpox diseases, to reinforce Member States’ capacity to respond to the current outbreaks and those in the future.
The IGAD PREPARE team led by Mr. Mubarak Mabuya, IGAD’s Chief of Staff and Interim Director of the Health and Social Development Division, representing Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, the Executive Secretary together with Dr. Fatuma Adan; the Lead of the IGAD PREPARE Project and IGAD Head of Mission to Kenya met with the Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng together with top officials at the Ministry of Health headquarters to highlight the key areas the IGAD PREPARE Project would like to scale up emergency response support in alignment with the national gaps and identified priority areas including surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce development and joint resource mobilization channeled towards targeted government needs and priorities as they arise.
The IGAD PREPARE Project that is being funded by Pandemic Fund of the World Bank, through WHO, aims to address the Mpox disease outbreak in Uganda to mitigate its spread and prevent mortality associated with the disease to protect IGAD citizens and world that are interconnected through cross-border movements, inter-country and international trade and travel.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the IGAD PREPARE Project team held joint discussions with Project partners namely; The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Uganda Red Cross Society and World Health Organisation to finalize a Comprehensive Response Plan that will be aligned to Uganda’s pandemic response priorities and to the Project’s objectives for timely disbursement of funds to effectively to save lives through a robust emergency and preparedness response system.
Other discussions held on the sidelines were on the post Mpox/Ebola phase where the IGAD PREPARE team paid courtesy calls to the Permanent Secretaries of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Water, Environment, and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities and discussions were about how the Ministries and other relevant stakeholders can have coordinated, collaboration and concerted efforts towards having a harmonized approach and mechanism to strengthen regional laboratory/surveillance and workforce development capacity and cross-border collaboration for Pandemic Preparedness and Response in the context of One Health (human, animal and environment) for a healthier region.
