Thermo cameras used to screen passengers for possible Ebola symptoms at
the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI
In Summary
- EBOLA: Kenya sent a team of 15 doctors, Uganda 14, Rwanda 7 and Tanzania 5.
In terms of health workers, Kenya will deploy nearly 300, Burundi 250, Uganda 21 and Rwanda 7. - TB: In East Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania face the highest disease burden. In 2013, Kenya recorded the highest number of new cases at 89,796, followed by Tanzania with 65,732 and third Uganda with 47,650.
- HIV/AIDS: There are 6,000 new infections a day. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were reported to be among the countries that account for 89 per cent of all new HIV infections in the world.
It has been a year of mixed results for East
Africa’s health sector, with encouraging news in the fight against
malaria and marburg virus but setbacks in HIV/Aids, dengue fever and
diabetes.
Ebola
When Ebola struck West Africa, the response from
the rest of the world was at best lukewarm, even with experts warning
that neglecting infectious disease anywhere posed a threat everywhere.
The tragedy that began at the end of last year
continued to be internationally ignored for five months, with Médecins
Sans Frontières, warning at the end of March that the outbreak would be
“unprecedented” in its spread and its toll.
Several reports warned that East African countries
risked an Ebola outbreak unless they strengthened screening services at
airports and border posts and followed up on all passengers arriving
from West Africa after screening.
In an effort to prevent any Ebola outbreaks in the
region, the East African Community partner states extended their
support to West African countries. The five member states have agreed to
jointly send a team of 41 medical experts and 578 health workers to
help contain the virus.
Also, trials on the experimental Ebola vaccine
(VSV-Zebov) began at the Kenya Coast with up to 40 health workers
volunteering for the trials in Kilifi under a programme funded by the
Wellcome Trust.
The vaccine trials will assess the safety profile
of the vaccine at different doses and compare the immune response
induced by one versus two injections.
Malaria
According to the WHO Malaria Report 2014, East
Africa still records a high number of deaths from malaria though the
figure has fallen sharply globally. About 20,000 deaths were reported in
East Africa in 2013 with Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania accounting for 90
per cent of the estimated number of P. falciparum infections in
sub-Saharan Africa.
However, there have been positive sentiments on
the back of trials of a vaccine conducted in seven African countries,
among them Kenya and Tanzania. Glaxo SmithKline in August submitted its
first regulatory application to the European Medicines Agency for the
assessment of the RTS,S vaccine.
RTS,S, the only advanced malaria vaccine in its
final study trials, is intended for exclusive use against the plasmodium
falciparum malaria parasite, which is most prevalent in sub-Saharan
Africa.
HIV/Aids
UNAids offered a vision of 90 per cent of those
living with HIV being diagnosed, 90 per cent of those individuals
accessing treatment, and the treatment of 90 per cent of them being
effective enough to keep levels of the virus in their systems
undetectable within the next five years.
If that vision became reality, it could end HIV as
a global threat before the middle of this century. But while the vision
illustrated how far the global response to HIV has come, it also
highlighted how far it has to go. This year, the world finally reached
the “tipping point,” where the number of people starting treatment for
HIV surpassed the number of people becoming infected.
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