Health experts to meet in Arusha over Ebola crisis

Health experts from the three East African Community (EAC) countries - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda - are to meet in Arusha, Tanzania, on 30 November to assess the Ebola fever threat. The Arusha-based Internews press service quoted a senior EAC official, Dr Nyamajeje Weggoro, as saying the meeting will chart out a common strategy on how to combat the disease. “The main thrust is to assess the spread of Ebola in the region and the possible sources of the disease beyond the EAC borders.” The Tanzanian health authorities have reported five suspected cases in the Mwanza, Kagera and Dar es Salaam districts but stressed there was no “conclusive evidence to confirm Ebola”. “Tanzania is taking the cases very seriously until it is proved otherwise,” the health ministry permanent secretary Mariam Mwafisi added. In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, 50 Ugandans from Gulu - where the disease first broke out - are being screened in their hotel to ensure they are healthy. Meanwhile, two more suspected Ebola cases have been reported in the western Uganda district of Masindi. [For full story, see separate IRIN item of 24 November headlined: “KENYA: Ugandans screened for Ebola”].