East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, 21th April, 2021: The 20th Ordinary Meeting of the EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for Health is currently underway via hybrid (physical and virtual) means.
The five –day meeting kicked off with the Session of Senior Officials, which is expected to conclude today 21st April, 2021.This will be followed by the Coordination Committee, which consists of the Permanent/Principal Secretaries on 22nd April, 2021 while the Ministerial Session will take place on Friday 23rd April, 2021.
East African Community, Arusha, Tanzania, 12th March 2021: Human mobility across countries has been one of the main sectors that facilitated the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the world, and many of the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the EAC region have also had a history of travel. After staff at international airports and border posts in the EAC region was trained as trainers on preparedness and response measures to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the first of 4 trainings at major harbors in the EAC region has started at the port of Mombasa, Republic of Kenya, on Monday, 8 March 2021. The trainings are convened by the EAC Secretariat and organised and conducted by AMREF Flying Doctors (AFD) in cooperation with WHO.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 15 December 2020: Outbreaks of infectious diseases are not only a health concern but affect many sectors. In the case of the current COVID-19 pandemic education, tourism and trade were among those that were hardest hit. The EAC Secretariat addresses this issue by applying the One Health approach in disease management. The approach involves all areas of society that would be affected by a disease outbreak, can contribute to preventing and combating it and to mitigating its impact. “In an effort to establish and train an urgently needed, strong One Health workforce, the EAC Secretariat with support from universities in all EAC Partner States and from the German Government developed a regional, generic, interdisciplinary postgraduate course on “Pandemic Preparedness with a One Health Approach (PPOH)”, explains the Hon. Christophe Bazivamo, Deputy Secretary General Productive and Social Sectors. “The curriculum will enable these experts to consider the needs of various stakeholders stronger, when mitigating the impact of disease outbreaks like COVID-19”.
East African Community, Arusha, Tanzania, 11th December, 2020: The training of trainers’ course on COVID-19 preparedness and response at 12 One Stop Border Posts between the EAC Partner States started in October 2020 and will end on Sunday, 13 December 2020 at the Gasenyi border post in Burundi. By then about 230 staff will have been trained and will scale up the measures by teaching further colleagues.
The training was convened by the EAC Secretariat and implemented by AMREF Flying Doctors to ensure that the busy border posts can effectively prevent the spread of COVID 19 and detect and respond to infected passengers.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 2 October, 2020: As the Partner States in the East African Community (EAC) region ease measures that were established to prevent and respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the EAC Secretariat has commenced a training of trainers’ course for staff at 12 One Stop Border Posts between the Partner States.
The training that aims at strengthening the prevention of and response to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases, involves staff from various sectors in line with the One Health approach. The training programme kicked off this week at the Isebania/Sirari border post between Kenya and Tanzania. The training is conducted by AMREF Flying Doctors in close cooperation with the EAC Secretariat.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 16 September 2020: Border Posts are high-risk areas regarding the spread of COVID 19 and other infectious diseases from one country to another. These “Points of Entry” are at the center of movement of people, animals and goods from one country to another.
The capacity of border post staff to prevent the spread of the virus and to quickly and expertly respond to infections in people who cross the border determines the efficiency. “The region has started opening its borders and space to allow movement of travelers in the region. This involves a risk as the pandemic has not yet ended”, says Hon Christophe Bazivamo, the Deputy Secretary General Productive and Social Sectors at the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat. To minimize this risk, the EAC will convene a training of trainers at 12 “One Stop Border Posts” (OSBPs) in the region to enhance the capacity of staff for infection prevention and for communicating the COVID-related risks to travelers.
The RECDTS App is designed to stop Corona in its tracks along EAC key transport corridors
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 8th September, 2020: The East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and its Partner States today held a virtual roll out event to mark the technical completion and development of the Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS). RECDTS is designed as a mobile phone application and will enable the issuance of the EAC COVID-19 digital certificates that are mutually recognised by Partner States, thus eliminating need for multiple testing as well as contributing to alleviating ongoing congestion at East Africa border crossing points.
The roll out was witnessed by the Chair of the EAC Council of Minister, Hon Prof Nshuti Manasseh, Ministers of Health from Kenya and Uganda as well as the EU Ambassador to Kenya, H.E Simon Mordue.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 7th August, 2020: The EAC Deputy Secretary General, in charge of Productive and Social Sector, Hon Christophe Bazivamo has disclosed that all is set for the launch of the EAC Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS) in collaboration with the EAC Partner States National Focal Points on Covid-19 and TradeMark East Africa (TMEA).
Addressing a weekly online EAC Ad hoc Regional Coordination Committee meeting (EARCC) on Covid-19, the Deputy Secretary General confirmed that RECDTS will be launched at five border points of Rusumo (Tanzania/Rwanda) on 12th August, 2020; Mutukula (Uganda/Tanzania) on 14th August, 2020, and; Malaba border (Kenya/Uganda) on 21st August, 2020.
East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22nd July, 2020: The COVID-19 global pandemic has left economies crumbling worldwide and the East African Community (EAC) region has not been spared. On a positive note though, “the EAC Secretariat is doing all it takes to ensure that the EAC Partner States’ economies can quickly recover to normalcy” said Hon Christophe Bazivamo, the Deputy Secretary General Productive and Social Sectors at the EAC Secretariat.
East African Community Secretariat, Arusha, 1st July, 2020; The Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS and Health Service Organizations (EANNASO) launched its East Africa Wananchi Digital Health Platform (AFYA) in an online event as travel and large gathering are still not possible in most EAC Partner States.
Afya is an online digital platform mapping health service centers along EAC borders. Residents and travelers can easily view on their mobile phones or laptops which health facilities offering the required essential services are within reach. The service starts by mapping the services along the border of Tanzania and Kenya, but will be extended to other EAC Partner States later.
