The United Republic of Tanzania Minister of Health, Ummy Mwalimu has officially declared the outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease in Kagera Region, Northwest part of Tanzania has been put to an end after the last patient was confirmed free of MVD, the announcement comes after 42 days of active surveillance which kicked on May 31 this year.
Declaring the end of Marburg in the Kagera Region, at the Conference in Bukoba, Kagera Region on the 2nd June 2023, the Minister that said the government found itself at crossroad as the disease erupted at the time when US Vice President Kamala Harris was coming in the country, thus some people were advising the Ministry not to announce the presence of the epidemic, as by so doing they’ll make visitors cancel the trip and the country would lose economic opportunities.
“Our dear President Samia Suluhu Hassan, said our first priority is our people and the latter comes second. So we had to inform the public about the outbreak and timely preparedness began. We are thankful to the US and WHO, for supporting that move and the tour went as scheduled “, said the minister.
She was optimistic Tanzania is capable of controlling and containing epidemics diseases and asked the World Health Organisation (WHO), to accredit it that it is involved in various missions related to that category of diseases in case they break out in the future, from the experience gained.
She said this great achievement to the total control of the epidemic, can’t be bestowed on the Ministry of Health alone but to all stakeholders who participated in one way or another to win the disease.
I can say there were three notable things which have made us through, we acted timely with partnership of National and International community as well as Multisectoral approach which brought ministries together.
“Since the outbreak, the Government in collaboration with stakeholders, jointly continued to take stringent measures to curb the disease. My gratitude to all health professionals especially Frontline health workers, sectoral ministries, National and International partners, journalists, private sector and individuals”, the Minister said, and officially declared to the Tanzania and International community that Kagera region was now free of MVD.
Special thanks went to WHO, UNICEF, US-CDC and Africa-CDC, Non Governmental Organizations and Religious Organisations for their invaluable contributions.
However, she reminded the citizens to continue taking all precautions against the disease, and report to the authorities in case of an unknown illness or death, saying the end of that outbreak should be the beginning of preparedness for any future outbreak.
The minister also reminded health workers to live by Infection Prevention and Control (IPP) principle so that they remain safe, saying that they were very sorry to have lost a doctor at work.
A total of eight confirmed and one probable cases, and six deaths, including a health worker, were recorded in the outbreak. Eighty-nine health workers who came in contact with cases were monitored for Marburg symptoms for 21 days and none fell ill, saying the first priority is to safeguard workers’ lives so that they continue to serve the patients.
She was glad that Dr. Mahona Madulu, the last patient with MVD was declared cured after several laboratory confirmation, promising him the government will take him to India for further health improvements, and also will help him for further studies on infectious diseases as he has felt the pinch.
Chief Medical Officer, Prof. Tumaini Nagu narrated how preparedness and team work helped in ending the outbreak, while Kagera Regional Administrative Secretary, Toba Nguvila, suggested the assessment be done to identify ups and downs for keeping records.
Dr Zabuloni Yoti, WHO country representative, Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Deputy Director Generaĺ, Africa CDC and Shalini Bahunguna, UNICEF representative in Tanzania, all expressed their sincere appreciation of how Tanzania worked with them in a comprehensive and collaboration spirit of giving valuable and timely service to serve the lives of people, promising continue working with Tanzania for the welfare of Tanzanian people.
The Government has allocated Sh2 billion in advance for the construction of epidemics isolation centres in the Kagera Region.
On 16 March 2023, the Ministry of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania announced that seven cases and five deaths from an unknown disease had been reported in two villages in Bukoba district, Kagera region, northern Tanzania. The cases were later confirmed as Marburg virus infection by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the National Public Health Laboratory, Tanzania. On 21 March 2023, the Ministry of Health officially declared the first MVD outbreak in the country.
By Mutayoba Arbogast
