Disease Updates

The new framework sets out 16 evidence-based recommendations designed to strengthen patient care and improve survival rates during outbreaks.

The initiative focuses on expanding genomic sequencing capacity, improving molecular diagnostics, and enhancing real-time disease surveillance across African health systems.

The initiative will also involve coordination with World Health Organization, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF to ensure alignment with national outbreak response plans and immunization priorities.

This new allocation builds on earlier support, which includes US$350 million in Ebola response and broader humanitarian assistance across the DRC, South Sudan, and Uganda.

The Bundibugyo strain remains particularly challenging because no approved vaccine or specific treatment is currently available.

The latest recommendations come as health authorities continue to battle a widening outbreak in eastern DRC, with additional confirmed cases reported in Uganda.

The leaders also pledged to protect essential services such as education, routine healthcare, cholera control and measles response efforts as countries confront the growing public health threat.

Kenya aligned its position with the African regional statement presented by Zimbabwe on behalf of the WHO African Region, reinforcing a continent-wide call for equity at the heart of global health governance and emergency response.

The development marks another milestone for the West African nation, which was certified free of wild poliovirus in 2019 by the Africa Regional Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication.

Health authorities in DRC and Uganda have already activated emergency response mechanisms, including contact tracing, case isolation, infection prevention measures, and enhanced treatment services.