PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Tanzania: Health officials take anti-Ebola measures at entry points
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – In its effort to prevent the Ebola virus from hitting Tanzania, the country’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has ordered its staff to ensure that existing disease surveillance mechanisms remain effective.
According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Nsachris Mwamwaja, consultations are ongoing between the ministry and senior health experts on the necessary intervention measures “just in case” signs of the killer disease are detected in the country.
A preparedness committee which was set up by the ministry to track down cases of dengue after an outbreak in the past few months has been charged to carry out the same task at Tanzania’s ports of entry, particularly the international airports of Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, seaports on the Indian Ocean and inland lake ports used by travellers to and from neighbouring countries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the latest outbreak of the disease as “unprecedented” with over 1,323 confirmed and suspected cases reported, and 729 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March 2014
Health officials here told PANA that the death of an airline passenger in Nigeria last week and the quarantine of a woman, who was travelling to the UK from an unnamed East African country after reportedly developing likely symptoms of Ebola, have intensified the need for strengthening local surveillance.
-0- PANA AR/VAO 1Aug2014
According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Nsachris Mwamwaja, consultations are ongoing between the ministry and senior health experts on the necessary intervention measures “just in case” signs of the killer disease are detected in the country.
A preparedness committee which was set up by the ministry to track down cases of dengue after an outbreak in the past few months has been charged to carry out the same task at Tanzania’s ports of entry, particularly the international airports of Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro, seaports on the Indian Ocean and inland lake ports used by travellers to and from neighbouring countries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the latest outbreak of the disease as “unprecedented” with over 1,323 confirmed and suspected cases reported, and 729 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March 2014
Health officials here told PANA that the death of an airline passenger in Nigeria last week and the quarantine of a woman, who was travelling to the UK from an unnamed East African country after reportedly developing likely symptoms of Ebola, have intensified the need for strengthening local surveillance.
-0- PANA AR/VAO 1Aug2014
