By OUR CORRESPONDENT
East African Community (EAC) has operationalized its Rapidly Deployable Expert (RDE) Pool in response to an international public health emergency due to the spreading Mpox virus disease outbreak.
EAC Partner States such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Burundi are particularly affected, with the DRC reporting over 7,000 confirmed cases by October 2024, around 40% of them children under 15.
To support health efforts in the DRC and Burundi, the EAC Secretariat is deploying skilled regional emergency experts through three joint deployments with the German Epidemic Preparedness Team (SEEG) over the next six months.
The official flagging-off of the EAC RDE Pool is led by the EAC Secretary General, Hon. Veronica Nduva, and Marcus von Essen, Head of the East Africa Division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in the presence of the Ambassadors of the DRC and Burundi as well as an RDE Pool expert representative.
The deployments for the Mpox outbreak follow a formal request from the Provincial Ministry of Health of South Kivu Province, DRC, to the SEEG, to support a series of deployments in the region, implemented in collaboration with the EAC RDE pool.
The deployment builds on an initial SEEG mission in June 2024, focusing on infection prevention and control (IPC) measures to respond to Ebola and Mpox Virus Disease outbreaks, which highlighted critical needs for IPC trainings and supply gaps in IPC commodities for healthcare facilities at regional level.
During the upcoming deployments, experts will deliver critical training on IPC measures, as well as risk communication strategies and laboratory diagnosis, to enhance the capacities of health workers’ and local communities’ response to Mpox outbreaks.
A training-of-trainer’s approach will further amplify the knowledge within local health facilities. In addition, these efforts will address shortages in critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), ensuring communities and healthcare workers are better prepared to manage the outbreak.
The EAC region has long faced recurrent outbreaks of infectious diseases, including Ebola, Marburg, Measles, Bird Flu, and COVID-19, all of which threaten the health, livelihoods, and economic stability of the region. To enhance preparedness and response, the EAC established the RDE Pool following the 18th EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health’s approval in 2019 (EAC/SC/Health/18/Decision 08).
The pool aims to ensure a timely, coordinated, and multidisciplinary response to disease outbreaks, in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR).
The ongoing Mpox outbreak, initially reported in eastern DRC, has since spread to Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, posing a growing threat in light of concurrent outbreaks like the Marburg Virus Disease recently reported in Rwanda.
Shortages in PPE, infection control measures, and limited laboratory capacity underscore the urgency of deploying the RDE Pool to assist in outbreak containment.
The RDE Pool, now consisting of over 140 experts from EAC Partner States, is set for expansion, marking a new era in EAC’s health emergency response capabilities.
Through these deployments, the EAC strengthens its collaboration with key partners to safeguard regional public health and support effective cross-border outbreak responses.
