Activists call for more funds to avert epidemics

Uganda’s profile as a hotspot for emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases requires adequate preparation to counter any outbreaks failure of which could leave the country in a vicious cycle of attacks, health activists have warned.

This, they say, not only costs lives but also has a negative economic impact where resources that would have gone to development are diverted to respond to outbreaks.

To counteract this, the activists have called on the government to channel more funds to the Ministry of Health, and related agencies for continuous surveillance.

The country has in the recent past suffered multiple outbreaks including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Marburg, yellow fever, anthrax, rift valley fever, meningitis, avian influenza, Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Cholera and Covid-19.

Addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, Ms Robinah Kaitiritimba, the executive director of Uganda National Health Consumers’ Organisation (UNHCO), said:  “We call upon the government to increase funding for epidemic preparedness and response. The health and  economic impact of Covid-19 recently illustrated to us  why every country must improve its ability to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to deadly infectious diseases  and outbreaks.”

She called on the government to strengthen public health care and fund the operationalisation of the public health emergency operations centre and the National Institute for Public Health, which will be in charge of coordinating the prevention of outbreaks.  

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Mr Justinian Kateera, the in-country coordinator of Global Health Advocacy Incubator, added: “We have a resurgence of Covid-19, we have anthrax, we have outbreaks in the offing, which present a threat, and if we don’t prepare for it we might respond with regret.”

Ms Mable Kukunda, the programmes manager at UNHCO, said the Ministry of Health budget to prevent disease outbreaks is too little at Shs670m.

Dr Ekwaro Obuku, a senior technical advisor for policy at Makerere University, said funds spent on response far outweigh those spent on prevention.

 “We have to be ready to prevent an explosion. What we never see is the counterfactual- what would have happened if we had not acted early. This is why we are telling the decision-makers to support the Ministry of Health to be prepared. Preparedness needs money, to keep surveillance,” he said.

Mr Steven Alor, an economist at the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG),  said:  “Whereas we know there are challenges of funding, issues of accountability, management and finance must be strengthened. We need systematic increase in the health sub-programme to stop reliance on donors because if they pull out today, we don’t have the money.”  

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