Kampala Key, Vulnerable and Priority Populations (KVP) News

This story is of interest to those who want to read further about Ebola. It has been picked up from the East Africa.  "In Summary The vaccine is produced by Johnson & Johnson and is different from the single dose Merck vaccine that has been used over the past year in DR Congo. The health authorities in Rwanda have also ordered 100,000 doses of the vaccine for a similar campaign targeting traders. Response teams would then expand vaccination to whole villages where Ebola cases are confirmed. More than 60,000 traders in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo who cross the border regularly into Rwanda and Uganda are to be vaccinated to curb an Ebola outbreak. Cases recorded recently in the Congolese trading hub of Goma, which is on Rwanda’s border, and have raised concerns of cross-border spread. According to Jean Jacques Muyembe, the co-ordinator of the Ebola response in DR Congo - where the virus has killed more than 1,900 in the last year - the ...

DRC Woes: Ebola, Measles and Violence The Ebola outbreak has spread to a third province in the DRC. A story by Tim Cooks of the Global Health Network (GHN) 2 new cases, including 1 death, were recorded in South Kivu, more than 700 kilometers south of the outbreak’s source, according to Reuters . A 24-year-old woman died on Thursday after visiting Beni in North Kivu, STAT reports via AP . Her 7-month-old child is being treated. The woman had been vaccinated after being identified last month as a “high-risk contact” of someone infected with Ebola, Reuters reports. There have been more than 2,800 cases recorded since the outbreak began more than a year ago, according to a report in the H5N1 blog . Adding to DRC’s woes: Measles has infected more than 145,000 people and killed more than 2,700, Médecins Sans Frontières reports today. The organization warns of “an alarming lack of a response” to the country’s worst measles epidemic in nearly a decade.  Armed groups ...

The Independent , AFP and Reuters run an article about two Goma cases who were cured of Ebola. "DR Congo's point man on Ebola voiced delight on Tuesday after researchers announced that two prototype drugs boost chances of surviving the dreaded disease. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, newly appointed by President Felix Tshisekedi to coordinate the year-long campaign against Ebola, said that out of four confirmed cases in the eastern city of Goma, "two have been cured" after 11 days of treatment. Expressing his "great joy," Professor Muyembe said, "This is a strong message for us that Ebola is curable. Today, the drugs are there." On Monday, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) said two drugs, out of four being tested among Ebola patients in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, had significantly boosted survival rates. The two drugs, known by their lab names as REGN-EB3 and mAb114, belong to a class of treatments called monoclonal ...

At Most-At-Risk Populations' Society in Uganda (MARPS in Uganda) we have endeavoured to highlight the need to make prevention efforts known to Key Populations (KP). What are these "Prevention" efforts in this case? We are talking of TB, Malaria, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis and other infections such as Ebola. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ TB When we talk of KP, we are specifically talking of such a population group with higher prevalence of HIV, vulnerability and susceptibility to infections and people who have not always been targeted by mainstream services. In our case we are targeting: LGBTIPQQ, Sex-workers, Drug-users and Persons Living With HIV (PLHIV). We are calling upon all KP-led organisations to work with NAFOPHANU as they lead their TB Prevention Campaign. It runs from July to October 2019, and hey intend to link 30,000 People Living With HIV/AIDS to TB Treatment. The other names for TB Treatment are: Isoniazid Prevention Therapy (IPT) Prop...

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has put in place measures to manage Ebola in case it appears in the country.  This done with the help a nd support from Development Partners. The Government of Uganda, determines whether an event constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). It set up the National Ebola Preparedness and Response Contingency Plan, which combats the spread should there be a case. It has also put the health workers in various facilities on high alert to be watchful of various patients taken ill. These are called Ebola Treatment Units (ETU). That part of a team that scours the country in case of emergency is called the Ebola Rapid Response Team (RRTs). For more, please follow this link. On top of physical structures, the MoH sends out regular notices and has a hotline operated by an Emergency Operations Centre. The public is argued to remain vigilant and report any suspected cases of persons presenting symptoms a...