Uganda’s health authorities yesterday started vaccinating frontline soldiers of the nation’s army fighting against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in conflict-torn DR Congo.
Government targets vaccinating about 10,000 UPDF soldiers involved in a military attack code named Operation Shujaa targeting rebel groups.
Uganda’s Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said at the launch of the exercise at Muhooti Barracks in Fort Portal City.
Ms Aceng told journalists that mass vaccination against Ebola will be rolled out as more vaccines arrive.
UPDF medical personnel have been equipped with the laboratory and all equipment to test suspected cases while health authorities intensified surveillance in border districts of Kasese, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko, Kanungu, Kisoro, and others facing an Ebola risk.
The World Health Organization indicates that Uganda has had at least four outbreaks of the deadly disease in 2000, 2014, 2017, and 2018.
The biggest and most deadly outbreak was in 2000, when 425 Ebola cases and 224 deaths were registered in Uganda.
The UPDF has so far trained 32 medical personnel and 15 personnel in case management who will participate in the vaccination exercise. END.