Uganda: Minister Aceng, WHO, Make Final Assessments As Uganda Prepares to Start Ebola Vaccine Trials

By Jonah Kirabo

Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng and the World Health Organization (WHO) country representative Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam have made final assessments of the clinical trial base in Kampala, as the country prepares to start Ebola vaccine trials.

The two officials took stock of equipments that have been procured for use during the trial. Items toured included the cold chain, Personal Protective Equipment, study tablets for the research teams, and other medical material.

Principal Investigator, Prof. Bruce Kirenga told the visiting teams that, "Preparedness is now at 92 per cent."

Trial Manager Dr Joanita Nalunjogi said that that five research teams have been recruited, trained and are ready for deployment once the vaccines arrive in the country.

According to the WHO country representative Dr Tegegn, the team is looking at three candidate vaccines to use in the trial period including the CAD3 Sabin vaccine, CADOX1 from the University of Oxford and the rsvs the Merck/IAVI Vaccine to test whether one or more will protect against Eboal caused by the Sudan ebola virus.

Health Minister Aceng pointed out that Uganda is doing a groundbreaking work which will have uses far beyond the current outbreak.

"We shall be providing science to the whole world when all this is done," Aceng said.

Aceng highlighted the importance of the research teams following the research protocol that she said that has now received necessary approvals from ethics and other regulatorys committees.

She commended the strong leadership of the Principal Investigator, Prof Kirenga.

According to the data from Ministry of Health, at least 141 confirmed cases of Ebola have been recorded and 22 probable cases (total 163 cases). There are 55 confirmed deaths and 22 probable deaths (total 77 deaths).

The data also shows that there are 544 active contacts listed in five districts.

Altogether, 3802 contacts have completed 21 days of monitoring as of November 26, 2022.

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