Uganda to start Ebola vaccinations as DRC outbreak goes on
Widespread insecurity in eastern DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces are adding to Uganda's vulnerability to cross border Ebola transmission
Kampala — Uganda says it will start to vaccinate some of its health workers against Ebola on Monday, amid fears that the viral haemorrhagic fever could spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is battling an outbreak. The East African country has suffered regular outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg over the years, both high-fatality viral haemorrhagic fevers. Parts of Uganda's western border are about 100km from sites of an Ebola outbreak taking place in the DRC. Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng said authorities would administer about 2,100 vaccinations covering so called frontline health personnel working in districts near the border. Tens of thousands cross the border in both directions weekly for trade and family visits and other purposes, Aceng said. Because of this the "risk of cross border transmission was assessed to be very high … hence the need to protect our health workers with this vaccine," she told a news conference. The DRC declared an outbreak of Ebola on A...
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