East African biosecurity meeting opens in Uganda

Biosafety experts in East Africa are meeting in Uganda to assess the region's preparedness to prevent, detect, respond and contain natural, accidental or deliberate threats.

Ruth Aceng, Uganda's minister of health, in a statement issued ahead of the start of the two-day meeting on Monday said the experts from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Kenya will look at the strategic preparedness and response capacities to deal with diseases attributed to the interface between humans and animals, and also deliberate use of biological agents (bioterrorism).

"Recent outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases commonly spreading from animals to humans, what we call zoonosis, simply attest to how vulnerable we are especially considering how fatal they are, and how quickly and widely they can spread," said Aceng.

The region in the recent past has experienced Ebola, Marburg, Anthrax, Congo Crimean Fever, Rift Valley Fever and Yellow Fever outbreaks.

"In less than 36 hours, these diseases can cross to the farthest corners of the world because of our interconnectedness through travels, trade, tourism, education and all," said Aceng.

While the diseases have largely been attributed to the interface between human, animal and environmental ecosystems, the fear of bioterrorism -- the deliberate use of biological agents like Ebola, Anthrax, Multi Drug Resistant strains to cause massive destruction, is another growing threat to the region and global public health.

Aceng said the experts meeting is critical in the context of the growing number of terror groups, weak bio-banking systems, weak sector-based containment capacities, and fragmented response abilities.

The meeting held under the theme, "Bioterrorism in East Africa Region; Are we ready? Examining strategies for Biosafety and Biosecurity multi-sectoral collaboration" has attracted government officials, security experts and researchers. Enditem