The lives of millions of Ugandans have been saved in recent years because the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA)  are working with the Government of Uganda to increase training on the surveillance and reporting of disease outbreaks. 

This vital "One Health" program pairs experts in human and animal healthcare from the Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) and CJTF-HOA in Djibouti, with their civilian counterparts. The goal is to increase communities’ understanding of the connections between human and animal health to combat the emergence of infectious diseases.

In August 2013 in the district of Kaabong, a small team of U.S. Army soldiers with the 411th and 415th Civil Affairs Functional Specialty Team (FxSP) provided more than 40 Ugandan veterinary and public health workers, as well as five UPDF medics, with the skills needed to respond effectively to disease outbreaks.

In both classroom and field engagements, the team covered basic disease surveillance, recognition, and epidemiology, as well as water sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health.  Daily community visits helped train participants in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of livestock and human diseases.

The Kaabong District ‘One Health’ Mission Commander, U.S. Army Captain Gilbert Barrett said "the One Health training exercise works  with local and regional teams to address immediate veterinary and public health needs, while reinforcing preventive medicine techniques, to reduce livestock and human mortality and the incidence of infectious disease outbreaks, especially those that originate from animals, both wild and domestic…."

Using small teams of U.S. Army Civil Affairs soldiers, CJTF-HOA and USAID have so far covered the districts of Napak, Moroto, Luwero, Kibaale, and Kaabong. Kabale district in western Uganda will be covered in September 2013.

Uganda is key to the ‘One Health’ mission because it’s the epicenter for several recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus—a highly contagious, often-fatal virus believed to be transmitted to humans by animals, and Marburg, a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.

Approximately 300 health workers have been trained so far, and hundreds of livestock and households have benefited as a result of recent intensified efforts, according to Thomas Easley, who heads the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats Program in Uganda.

Through the Emerging Pandemic Threats Program, U.S. Mission Uganda supports programs to develop greater skills and awareness among health providers, communities and patients to better understand the special treatment and care needed to address major outbreaks.

Dr. Herbert Kazoora, a local epidemiologist with the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) also attended the training and noted “the training will lead to healthier communities in Uganda, since those that have been trained will be change agents in their communities, helping to share knowledge on how to detect and respond in time to avert the consequences of disease.”

Story courtesy US Embassy Kampala