By GPC Correspondent
The East African Community (EAC) has intensified efforts to strengthen regional preparedness for outbreaks of highly infectious diseases, with 120 frontline health workers from all eight Partner States undergoing specialised training in Nairobi.
The doctors, nurses and other health professionals are being trained under the Training in the East African Community for High-Consequence Infectious Diseases (tEACh) programme, a joint initiative between the EAC and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
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The training, which began this week at the Aga Khan University Centre for Innovative Medical Education, is part of a series of workshops running until November 2026.
The programme seeks to equip health workers with practical skills to detect, isolate, manage and contain diseases such as Ebola, while also developing a pool of regional trainers who can pass the skills on to colleagues in their respective countries.
“Through this regional training, the EAC is building a common pool of health professionals with the practical skills to detect, manage and contain outbreaks while strengthening the ability of Partner States to respond together when a public health emergency occurs,” said Dr Dorcas Omukhulu, EAC Acting Director in charge of Social Sectors.
The training is being delivered by clinical experts from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, East African clinicians trained through the tEACh Training-of-Trainers programme, national Emergency Operations Centres and the World Health Organisation.
Participants are undergoing practical exercises and simulations covering case identification and isolation, infection prevention and control, use of personal protective equipment, sample collection, patient management and emergency response.
Dr Pius Mutuku, a medical epidemiologist at the Kenya National Public Health Institute, said the practical approach would help improve the ability of health workers to respond safely during outbreaks.
“This training strengthens the practical skills and confidence we need to respond safely and effectively during an outbreak,” he said.
The EAC has also established a Mobile Laboratory Network comprising 10 laboratories across seven Partner States to strengthen rapid disease diagnosis at strategic locations and points of entry.
The laboratories have supported responses to Ebola, Marburg, Covid-19 and Mpox. The regional bloc plans to expand the network to 34 mobile laboratories by the end of 2027.
The EAC estimates that about US$45 million is required to strengthen preparedness and response to Ebola and other viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks in the region.
Germany has committed an additional €4.8 million towards the effort. The funding will support training for 500 frontline health workers, community sensitisation targeting 15,000 people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, procurement of 20,000 sets of personal protective equipment and registration of new Bundibugyo Ebola vaccines in EAC Partner States once approved by WHO.
“Effective response to a high-consequence infectious disease depends on trained people, the right equipment and systems that work across borders,” said GIZ Programme Manager Burkard Kömm.
