Leveraging investments in Ebola preparedness for COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Rodgers Ayebare; Peter Waitt; Stephen Okello; Mubaraka Kayiira; Maureen Atim Ajok; Irene Nakatudde; Nahid Bhadelia; Mohammed Lamorde

doi:10.12688/aasopenres.13052.1

Leveraging investments in Ebola preparedness for COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

AAS Open Res. 2020 Mar 18:3:3. doi: 10.12688/aasopenres.13052.1. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Rodgers Ayebare¹, Peter Waitt¹, Stephen Okello², Mubaraka Kayiira¹, Maureen Atim Ajok¹, Irene Nakatudde¹, Nahid Bhadelia³, Mohammed Lamorde¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Health Security, Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Kampala, Kampala, 000256, Uganda.
² Makerere University Walter Reed Porject, Kampala, Kampala, 000256, Uganda.
³ Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, Section of Infectious Diseases, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, 02118, USA.

Abstract

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in China and transmission to more than 80 territories worldwide, including nine countries in Africa, presents a delicate situation for low-resource settings. Countries in Eastern and Central Africa have been on high alert since mid-2018 in anticipation of regional spread of the Ebola virus from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Significant investment has been made to support enhanced surveillance at point of entry and hospitals, infection control practices, clinical case management, and clinical research. With a new threat on the horizon, African countries have an opportunity to leverage the existing capacities for Ebola preparedness to brace for the imminent threat.

Keywords: COVID-19 preparedness; Coronavirus; Ebola; SARS-CoV-2.

Grants and funding

Mohammed Lamorde is supported by the CAPA-CT II project (RIA2018EF-083) which is part of the EDCTP2 program supported by the European Union. Mohammed Lamorde has received funding from the African Academy of Science under the Grand Challenges Africa grant (GCA/AMR/md2/175).