The Ministry of Health with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), is hosting the second Joint External Evaluation (JEE) meeting to review and validate the progress made by the country in building the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).
This will be the second edition of the assessment whose first edition was held in 2019.
The JEE team, in collaboration, with UNICEF, the Ministry of Security, Gender, labor, and Social Development together with national experts.
Previously, nations conducted annual self-evaluations and reported their findings to the WHO. However, the WHO eventually recommended a shift from exclusive self-evaluation towards a multifaceted approach that combines self-assessment, peer review, and voluntary external evaluations involving both domestic and independent experts.
The authorities are expected to review progress made since 2017 in 19 technical areas highlighted in the IHR (2005) as well as the Global Health Security Agenda including IHR coordination, laboratory services, biosecurity and biosafety, preparedness, reporting, immunization, workforce development, emergency operation centers, medical countermeasures, among others.
The JEE team will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the challenges encountered, identify existing gaps, and collaboratively define priority actions for improvement where necessary. These actions will subsequently be translated into an improvement plan to be executed by the country in the upcoming years.
Speaking at the launch of the assessment at Sheraton in Kampala on Thursday, First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga said that the assessors will put emphasis on Uganda’s response to epidemics and how border discipline is kept whenever there is an outbreak of a disease within the country.
Dr. Yonas Tegegn, the (WHO) Country Representative to Uganda applauded Uganda for being one of the few countries that allowed external assessment. He added that the evaluation will help WHO where to focus while supporting the health system.
Betty Among, the Minister for Gender, labor, and Social Development said that there is growing fear in some workplaces that use chemicals that increase workers to several risks.
She however said that the ministry will bring to the table what they are doing to reduce risks in workplaces.
“Our role is to ensure that the chemical risk to workers who are undertaking work is addressed. In that line, we have domesticated the chemical weapons conventions through the Toxic Chemicals Prohibition and Control Act. We are also implementing chemical safety and security programs with the aim of strengthening detection, prevention, and response to chemical incidents and threats in workplaces.”
Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director of Public health in the Ministry of Health said that there have been many successes achieved since 2019 when the initial assessment was conducted in relation to international health regulations’ mission to help them prevent, detect, and respond to any disease threat.
He cited the successful containment of the Ebola outbreak in Mubende within a 69-day period and made sure that the contagion did not spill over into neighboring countries as well as making sure that they did not allow infection of diseases to spread in Uganda using the eight crossing points including Busia, Malaba, Katuna, Mpondwe, Entebbe and others.
He however said that, while they were able to contain the disease with just three districts, they are yet to detect what caused the outbreak of Ebola in Mubende.
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