Uganda is waiting to be declared Ebola free on Wednesday, January 11 after going 42 days without reporting a new case.
The government through the Ministry of Health together with its partners will make the declaration that Ebola Sudan Virus Epidemic is over in the country.
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This follows a standard set by the World Health Organization.
The Senior Public Relation Officer at the Ministry of Health, Emmanuel Ainebyoona, said the declaration ceremony will take place in Mubende District Mayor’s Gardens, starting at 10am.
Health minister Dr Aceng
Since the disease broke out in September last year, the country has registered over140 cases and 50 deaths.
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Health authorities maintain that vigilance is still needed even when no new cases are being registered and that several measures are still in place to detect, treat and do surveillance.
Africa’s top public health body, Africa CDC, said on Thursday last week that the outbreak in Uganda was under control.
African health authorities have made concerted efforts to boost their readiness to respond to Ebola after a devastating outbreak of the Zaire strain in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 that killed 11,300 people, in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
According to the Ministry of Health, 3,600 health workers are still on standby countrywide, while district and community task forces are functional, and mortality surveillance is still ongoing.
The country is experiencing the rare strain of the Sudan variant, which currently has no vaccine.
In December 2022, the country received the first shipment of 1,200 trial vaccines to be evaluated in a clinical trial called the Solidarity Against Ebola, currently going on at the Makerere University Lung Institute led by Dr Bruce Kirenga, a senior lecturer and founding director of the Makerere University Lung Institute.