The Assistant Commissioner for Health Education and Promotion, Mr Paul Kagwa, on Tuesday said the country has been preparing for the H1N1 threat for 6 months.

Here is a look at how prepared (or not prepared) the country is for the deadly swine flu:

In June, The World Health Organisation (WHO) donated 40,400 doses of Tami flu tablets worth $210000 (Shs462 million) and 25 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE worth $2000) to the government of Uganda as a global cause to fight the disease.

A multi-sectoral National Task Force has been formed to coordinate all technical efforts and strategize for response to the H1N1 virus.

Surveillance has been heightened at entry points into Uganda (though as shown in other articles, surveillance at the border points of Busia and Malaba has been somewhat lacking)

Isolation facilities have been set up in the Entebbe and Mulago hospitals to handle cases of suspected or confirmed H1N1 virus.

Laboratory facilities at Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) (a WHO Collaborating Center) in Entebbe have been fortified in order to screen and diagnose H1N1. It is free of charge to the public and attainable on demand of the National Task Force (NTF).

lPublic education and training and refresher programmes for health-care workers are ongoing.