African leaders form Ebola Taskforce

A high-level meeting of leaders from different African countries has established the Africa Ebola Coordination Taskforce (AfECT) and resolved to increase investment in research on drugs and vaccines.

In the meeting, which was held in Kampala yesterday, the leaders said this will be essential in curbing outbreaks and relieving the continent from depending on foreign countries to handle public health emergencies.

The resolution followed the Emergency Inter-Ministerial Meeting on Cross-Border Collaboration for Preparedness and Response to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). The meeting was called because of the outbreak of EVD in Uganda amid the risk of spreading to other countries. 

The emergency meeting was attended by nine African countries and other development partners. The meeting was attended by Ministers of Health (or their representatives] of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

According to the Communique, the resolution will be jointly coordinated by the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Union Commission, and the World Health Organisation (WHO.

Speaking at the event, Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the Director of Africa CDC, asked African leaders to come out of their comfort zones to own the fight against epidemics through increased investment.

“This is not the first outbreak of Ebola Sudan [in Uganda] but it is unfortunate that we don’t have rapid diagnostic kits [to detect the disease early] and neither do we have a [approved] vaccine,” he said.

A growing number of experts on the continent have also questioned the protocol international agencies use to declare and prioritise diseases. WHO declared monkeypox as a public health emergency when it started attacking people in European countries, years after Africa was grappling with the disease with no vaccine or drug. 

“It appears these diseases only attract [international] attention when they cross to other continents. Knowing that we are on our own motivates us to make our continent a safer place,” Dr Ouma added.

The technocrats from different governments endorsed the plan to support local researchers and develop health products to address African problems.