Kampala, Feb 4 (IANS) The ongoing Ebola vaccine trial in Uganda is an achievement in the fight against the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
In a statement posted on its website, the WHO said the trial, which began with contacts of the index Ebola case in the country, aims to assess the clinical efficacy of a candidate vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.
According to the UN agency, this is the first-ever vaccine trial for the Sudan strain of Ebola.
It noted that principal investigators from Uganda’s Makerere University and the state-run Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), with support from the WHO and other partners, worked to prepare the trial within four days at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, following the outbreak’s confirmation on January 30.
“This is a critical achievement toward better pandemic preparedness and saving lives when outbreaks occur,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as quoted in the statement.
This is possible because of the dedication of Uganda’s health workers, the involvement of local communities, the Ministry of Health of Uganda, Makerere University, and UVRI, as well as research efforts led by the WHO involving hundreds of scientists, he added.
There are no approved treatments or vaccines for the Sudan strain of Ebola, but early initiation of supportive care has been shown to significantly reduce mortality, according to the WHO, Xinhua news agency reported.
The WHO has donated 2,160 doses of the trial vaccine to Uganda.
Uganda, with the WHO support, has set up an 84-bed Ebola isolation and treatment facility in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, following the virus outbreak in the east African country, a health official said on Monday.
Henry Kyobe Bosa, Incident Commander at the Ministry of Health, said that the unit in Mulago National Referral Hospital will manage suspected and confirmed cases of the Sudan Ebola virus disease (SVD).
“We have set up an Ebola isolation unit at Mulago and deployed a [pre-trained] national emergency medical team to manage the cases at the facility,” Bosa said.
“The development of this isolation facility, the training and deployment of the emergency team has been supported by WHO in collaboration with the World Bank.”
Another isolation unit in Mbale should be up and in operation by the end of Monday, according to Bosa.
Uganda last week declared an Ebola outbreak after a 32-year-old nurse succumbed to the disease. The Ministry of Health said 45 people who had contact with the deceased have been identified.
The Ministry of Health has urged the public to remain calm, saying it is in control of the situation and is committed to protecting all people against Ebola.
Data from the WHO showed that Uganda’s last SVD outbreak started in September 2022 and ended in January 2023, with 164 cases and 77 deaths in the country.
–IANS
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