Shortly after Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda's Minister of Health declared Uganda free from Ebola on Jan.11, her colleague, Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma; the Acting Director General of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, teased her telling her that he felt"both happy and sorry for Uganda."
"Having registered no new Ebola case, despite sustained intense surveillance both at the epicentre district and nationally, I now confirm that all transmission chains have been fully interrupted and take this opportunity to declare that the outbreak is over, and Uganda is now free of active Ebola transmission," Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said amidst applause from local, national and foreign dignitaries at the Mayor's Gardens in Mubende Municipality.
He added:"Lessons learned and the systems put in place for this outbreak will protect Ugandans and others in the years ahead." According to the Ministry of Health, the case was that of a 24-year old man who presented with several symptoms on Sept.11. The symptoms included high-grade fever, tonic convulsions, blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea, loss of appetite, pain while swallowing, chest pain, dry cough and bleeding in the eyes.
Besides the district being a source of agricultural produce and forest products, it also hosts several gold mines which have in recent years attracted miners and gold dealers from across Uganda and the neighbouring countries. "Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control," said Dr. Aceng.
"The negative propaganda and politicizing of the epidemic makes communities undertake dangerous activities like running away to other districts to avoid being isolated." On Oct.15, during his third address on the Ebola situation, President Yoweri Museveni locked down Mubende and Kassanda districts for 21 days with movements in and out of the two districts prohibited.