Africa CDC, WHO launch unified platform to support Ebola response

Addis Ababa, June 29
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Ugandan government have officially launched the Joint Continental Incident Management Support Team (IMST) to support continental health emergency capabilities amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak.

The Africa CDC, in a statement issued late Saturday, said the newly launched IMST establishes a unified operational platform to strengthen Africa's capacity to prepare for, coordinate, and respond to public health emergencies, while supporting the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease response.

Launched at Makerere University in Uganda's capital Kampala on Saturday, the IMST will support Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and neighboring at-risk countries through integrated technical assistance, operational coordination and multidisciplinary expertise, it was noted.

"The launch marks a significant milestone in strengthening Africa's public health emergency architecture and reflects a shared commitment by Africa CDC, WHO, and African Union (AU) member states to build faster, more coordinated, and country-led responses to increasingly complex public health threats," the Africa CDC said.

The new platform reinforces regional preparedness and cross-border collaboration as essential pillars of Africa's health security, the AU's specialised continental public health agency added.

The agency highlighted that the IMST -- guided by the principles of one team, one plan, and one budget -- brings together specialists in surveillance, laboratory systems, case management, infection prevention and control, emergency logistics and operations, risk communication, information management, and partner coordination to strengthen outbreak response across the region, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ebola disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

The average Ebola disease case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25–90 per cent in past outbreaks.

The first Ebola disease outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests. The 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. There were more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It also spread between countries, starting in Guinea then moving across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia.