Kampala, 30 June -- Health Ministers from the six countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa have signed a protocol of cooperation for the prevention and control of epidemics and vaccine preventable diseases. 
Under the protocol signed on Friday in the Ugandan capital, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, agreed to cooperate in the areas of epidemiological surveillance, laboratories and communication systems. The other areas of cooperation agreed are vaccination, social mobilization, management of epidemics, safe water supply and sanitation, and monitoring of drug resistance.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Director, Programme Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa Dr Luis G. Sambo, assured the Ministers of WHO's support in implementing the protocol. He specifically mentioned advocacy, technical support and resource mobilization as areas on which WHO would focus.

Dr Sambo added that WHO would further strengthen its Kampala-based inter-country team to provide greater support to inter-country activities outlined in the protocol. Expressing concern over the prevailing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria situation in the Great Lakes region, he called for the development of an inter-country project to be submitted to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other sources of funding.

Earlier at the opening ceremony, Dr Sambo called for constant information exchange among countries, as this was very critical especially for the control of epidemics. He cited the 2000 Ebola outbreak in Uganda as an excellent example of information-sharing, with WHO effectively demonstrating its ability to offer technical support in epidemic situations.

Uganda's Third Deputy Prime Minster who represented President Yoweri Museveni at the opening ceremony said that as new diseases emerge, there was need to develop more diversified national plans of action in surveillance of epidemics. He called for reliable surveillance guidelines, training, strengthened laboratory capacity, improved information technology and electronic skills monitoring in order to counter epidemics.

The protocol of cooperation was first signed in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in 1997 in the absence of Kenya which initialed it at . the three -day meeting held in Kampala that was meant to review and update the document.

In the reviewed protocol countries agreed to assist one another in the form of technical or material support in the event of major epidemics. They thus requested WHO to facilitate the "expression of this solidarity", especially through its inter-country technical support team and country offices.

The countries also agreed to adopt policies for motivation and retention of skilled personnel through staff promotion, training and other incentives, and requested WHO to establish an appropriate mechanism to evaluate and monitor the implementation of the protocol.

The ministers will meet again in 2007 in Tanzania to evaluate the impact of the protocol especially in the area of strengthening national capacities to prevent and control epidemics.

For more information, Please contact

Benjamin Sensasi
Health Information and Promotion Officer
WHO Country Office
P.O. Box 24578 
Kampala, Uganda

Telephone 256-41-344038/58, Fax 256- 41-344059

E-mail Sensasi [at] who.imul.com (Sensasi[at]who[dot]imul[dot]com)