The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention held their 2nd Regional Steering Committee (ReSCO) meeting where they launched the East Africa task force on cholera control and prevention.
The goal of the taskforce is to streamline regional strategies for cholera management and prevention, foster experience sharing and strengthen collective efforts to contain an outbreak.
Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha, speaking at the meeting held at Radisson Blu Hotel, Nairobi on Thursday said that the Africa CDC has set strategic priorities for the years 2023-2027 that will serve as a guide to their actions and achieve the common goal of keeping the population healthy and safe.
‘We need to make true our commitment to this goal to safeguard our region and the continent,’ Nakhumicha said, adding that disease outbreaks know no borders which makes the collective response to regional outbreaks crucial.
Nakhumicha said enhancing surveillance and swiftly containing any threats to public health are pract
ices that must continue noting that the national public health institutes are the bedrock of the health system.
‘Let us discuss strategies to foster their capacity, foster innovation and promote excellence in research and surveillance,’ she said.
‘Today we take decisive steps by inaugurating the Eastern African regional cholera taskforce, and we know that cholera remains a formidable adversary but together we can curb its impact through coordinated efforts,’ she said.
Nakhumicha highlighted two health initiatives that are being implemented, one of them being the Kenya universal health coverage policy of 2020-2030, whose aim is to significantly improve the overall health status of the citizens.
She added that the Community Health Workforce Agenda is the second initiative.
‘Kenya has in the recent past added more than 200 community health units staffed with 107 thousand community health promoters working with health workers. The units play a crucial role in delivering health services to the grassroots leve
l,’ the CS said.
‘We intend to leverage technology to improve reporting and monitoring of health digitization initiatives that include using digital tools for data collection, reporting and tracking of community health outcomes,’ Nakhumicha stated.
The CS announced that the Kenyan government has approved the allocation of 10 acres of land and two billion US dollars towards the construction of the East African Regional Coordinating Centres.
She added that a steering committee comprising top government officials from relevant agencies has been set up to fast-track the legal and technical aspects of the project.
‘May our discussion be fruitful, our resolutions be impactful and our shared vision for a healthier Eastern Africa region be realised,’ she said.
Somalia Minister of Health and Chair of East Africa ReSCO, Ali Hajiadam Abubakar Osman said that the regional steering committee included 14 Eastern African countries and Nairobi is the place where the regional coordinating centre is located.
He said that
the region is trying to strengthen collaboration and reduce infectious and communicable diseases adding that preparations have to be made for the upcoming pandemics acknowledging the fact that it is not a matter of if but a matter of when the pandemics will come.
Abubakar noted that strategies including establishment of national public health institute, emergency and operation centres, are in place.
‘Last century, the only thing that the world succeeded in eradicating was smallpox so we are trying to take steps to eradicate diseases like cholera, polio and measles,’ he said.
Abubakar stated that a cholera vaccine is now available and the committee is trying to avail it to all countries as cholera has become a problem that exists in many African countries.
‘This meeting is about making consultations among countries to reduce the effect of cholera on our people and how to eliminate and eradicate it in the future,’ the minister said.
Source: Kenya News Agency