LocationsUNDP Leverages Partnership With Gov’t, Religious And Cultural Leaders To Support Ebola Response
December 3, 2022
The Minister of State for Health (Primary Healthcare) Hon. Margaret Muhanga (3rd from left), His Eminence Sheikh Shaban R. Mubaje (Co- President Inter-Religious Council of Uganda), UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Elsie Attafuah and officials from, KCCA, Buganda Kingdom and WHO during the event.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Uganda has partnered with the Ministry of Health, cultural and religious leaders to scale up the National Ebola Response to curb transmission of the virus, minimize mortality, disruption of socio-economic and health systems and improve standards of care for affected persons.
Under this initiative, UNDP is working with the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Inter- Religious Council of Uganda, Buganda Kingdom and Kampala Capital City Authority to improve standards of care and strengthen public health risk communications and community engagement with emphasis on risk groups such as transporters and other vulnerable populations.
Provision of heavy-duty washing machines and incinerators to support Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) and deployment of specialist UN Volunteers to support the National Ebola Response in high-risk areas has been prioritized. A total of 20 technical experts who include eight Infection Prevention Officers, two Psychosocial Support Officers, four Case Management Officers and six nurses have been deployed through WHO to improve standards of care for Ebola patients, suspects and survivors and minimize transmission in healthcare settings and communities.
The Minister of State for Health (Primary Healthcare) Hon. Margaret Muhanga (right) receives a dummy of a heavy-duty washing machine from UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Elsie Attafuah. UNDP is procuring heavy duty machines to support the National EVD response.
Speaking during a high-level engagement on “Leveraging Partnerships for Public Health Emergencies” held at UNDP offices, Hon. Margaret Muhanga, the Minister of State for Health in Charge of Public Health Care, commended UNDP for partnering with traditional and religious leaders in supporting the national EVD response, “We believe that people listen to their cultural and religious leaders and that’s why this partnership is very important.”
On her part, UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Elsie Attafuah underscored the role of traditional leaders and faith institutions in influencing behavioral changes and cascading EVD messages using their structures. Ms. Attafuah also called for innovative ways of enhancing preparedness and response to emergencies, “We are confronting a perfect storm of evolving threats and growing uncertainty where Uganda has to find innovative ways to build system resilience to tackling impacts of multiple crises at a go – Ebola, COVID-19 pandemic, flooding, drought, hunger, rising prices, etcetera,” she said.
UNDP Areas of Support
Following the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease, UNDP repurposed core resources and secured additional funding from the UNDP Crisis Bureau to contribute US$1,300,000 (about UGX 4.85bn) to the national response in the following priority areas: (a) Risk Communication and Community Engagement; (b) Strengthening EVD Response Coordination at National and Sub-national Levels; (c) Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) with a focus on EVD Waste Management; (d) Human Resource Support; and (e) Socio-economic Impact Assessment and Early Recovery.
Central to this support has been the mass production and distribution of Information, Education and Communications (IEC) materials through Buganda Kingdom and the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) structures. The IRCU comprises the Roman Catholic Church, the Province of the Church of Uganda, the Uganda Orthodox Church, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, the Seventh-day Adventist Church Uganda Union Mission, Born-Again Faith in Uganda and the National Alliance of Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches in Uganda.
His Eminence Sheikh Shaban R. Mubaje - The Grand Mufti of Uganda and Co- President of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda receives Ebola Awareness posters from the UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Elsie Attafuah. Looking on is the Minister of State for Health (Primary Healthcare) Hon. Margaret Muhanga, UNDP officials and other IRCU leaders.
A call to remain vigilant on Ebola
Since the outbreak of EVD on September 20, 2022, a total of 142 cases, 84 recoveries and 56 fatalities had by December 2, 2022 been reported in nine districts.
Speaking during the event, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director Ms. Dorothy Kisaka called for more vigilance until when the country is declared free of Ebola, “The City of Kampala has gone for 18 days now without a reported case of Ebola. But like the adage goes, it is NOT yet UHURU. The scientists contend that to be epidemic free, we have to go 42 days without a reported case,” she said.
Kampala city registered the first case of Ebola on October 8, 2022 and by December 2, 2022, a total of 19 cases had been reported in the city.
The Executive Director KCCA Mrs. Dorothy Kisaka receives reflector jackets from UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Elsie Attafuah. UNDP partnered with KCCA to intensify risk communication and community engagement on Ebola targeting transporters and people in busy places such as markets, shopping centers.
Buganda Kingdom and IRCU speak out
Both IRCU and Buganda Kingdom have held media and community engagements, issued public statements including a pastoral letter to the nation by IRCU rallying the public to adopt positive behavioral tendencies to minimize spread of the disease and debunking myths and perceptions about Ebola.
“What we have here is an enemy who is mercilessly lethal and deadly. We, therefore, call upon the public to note that Ebola is real, has no cure and kills. Ebola should be understood from the scientific rather than mystical or spiritual perspectives,” reads a press release issued by the IRCU on 16 November 2022. The IRCU leaders also urged the populace to adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures set by the Ministry of Health in the fight against Ebola.
Similarly, in a statement issued by Buganda Kingdom, the Prime Minister Charles Peter Mayiga commended frontline workers and also clarified falsehoods about the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease.
“We should desist from the belief that the Ebola virus is caused by witchcraft and should desist from taking our friends and relatives to traditional healers; instead, we should take them to hospitals and health facilities because the Ebola virus is not caused by witchcraft,” he said.