Improving health surveillance in Uganda with #TeamEurope support

As part of the European Union-Intergovernmental Authority on Development (EU-IGAD) COVID-19 Response programme, Uganda recently received a mobile laboratory to strengthen surveillance and the healthcare system.

The mobile lab, worth EUR 167,300 (Ugx 700 million), will be used to collect and transport test samples from people suspected of having an infectious disease. It will be stationed in the Central Health Laboratories at Butabika- Ministry of Health Headquarters and will help medical workers to reach out to patients from cross-border areas, areas of emergency response, truck drivers in main truck stops and parking areas as well as people crossing borders.

Guillaume Chartrain, the EU Deputy Head of Delegation to Uganda, handed over the mobile lab to the Minister of State for Health (Primary Health Care) Hon. Margaret Muhanga, together with officials from the EU-IGAD Covid-19 Response Programme, and UNOPS, managers of the programme.

“Our EU-IGAD COVID 19 Response programme, and its support part to Uganda, is dedicated to strengthening the healthcare system in this region and mitigating the health and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, which has so dramatically reshaped our world. It is part of the Team Europe continuing support for its valued partners facing the pandemic and its consequences, a testimony to our shared commitment to safeguarding human lives,” Mr Chartrain said.

Minister Margaret Muhanga said the mobile lab is great as it is a “type 3 mobile laboratory” which does not require any infrastructure modifications to set it up: “We are grateful for the donation,” she said.

EU

Funded by the European Union, the €60 million EU-IGAD COVID-19 Response Project is managed by UNOPS PMU Djibouti and coordinated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), International Organization for Migration (IOM), TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) and The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) with the aim to provide a cohesive and coordinated COVID-19 response across the IGAD region namely; Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda as well as to strengthen the health care systems in these countries. The digital health solutions component is co-funded by the German Government and independently managed and implemented by GIZ.

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