The World Health Organisation, WHO, says Uganda has started a trial vaccination programme for the strain of Ebola, a viral infection that is behind the country’s latest outbreak.
According to WHO, the number of confirmed cases has risen to three, as the East African country announced an outbreak of Ebola in the capital, Kampala, with a single case, with a nurse who died on January 29.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Emmanuel Ainebyoona told reporters that the total number of cases rose to three, with two additional cases from the family of the deceased nurse.
In a post on the X platform, WHO director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said Uganda had also started a clinical trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola.
“This marks a major milestone in public health emergency response and demonstrates the power of collaboration for global health security,” Moeti said.
“If proven effective, the vaccine will further strengthen measures to protect communities from future outbreaks.”
It also revealed that currently, there is no approved vaccine for that strain, noting that the existing vaccination is for the Zaire strain, which is behind a recent outbreak in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
