United States Government Boosts Uganda’s Mpox Diagnostic Capacity with More Testing Kits

United States government through its public health agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC), today handed 5,000 more laboratory test kits and needed consumables worth an estimated $265,000 (approximately UGX1bn) to the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) to support mpox diagnosis amidst increasing cases. Uganda has so far reported over 200 confirmed cases and one death. The United States’ donation is in addition to over $4 million (over UGX 14 bn) in U.S. government assistance since August to Uganda to respond to and prevent mpox.

U.S. Ambassador William W. Popp handed over the latest consignment of donated tests that included extraction kits and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based primers/probes worth 5,000 tests, to Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng at the Ministry of Health grounds to boost Uganda’s testing capacity. The testing kits will be distributed between Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and Uganda National Health Laboratory Services (UNHLS), Uganda’s primary testing facilities in the mpox response. This brings to 10,000 test kits donated by U.S. CDC since the outbreak started.

“It is not enough to have skilled personnel; it is important to empower them with the tools to work—the test kits/consumables that we are handing over today are part of our deliberate effort to help have as complete, timely and effective response as possible.,” Ambassador Popp said. “And this is only a part of our whole of the U.S. government $4 million (over UGX 14 bn) effort on enhanced surveillance, risk communication, coordination and contact tracing.

This assistance is part of the U.S. government’s ongoing health and development support to Uganda, which aims to build a strong and resilient health system capable of detecting, preventing, and responding to various health threats including mpox. This support has helped increase Uganda’s internationally accredited laboratory system five-fold since 2015.  For over 60 years, the U.S. government’s health and development assistance to the Ugandan people has contributed to saving many lives. This new mpox prevention assistance is in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars the United States provides each year to build a strong and resilient health system able to detect, prevent, and respond to a variety of health threats and illnesses, including mpox.

Through U.S. agencies and programs including U.S. CDC, the U.S. government has supported Uganda’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats with a focus on:

Enhanced surveillance at points of entry with the first mpox cases detected at USG-supported Ugandan border health facilities;
Laboratory systems strengthening for improved diagnostic capacity with more than 70 accredited labs—up from only 15 in 2017;
Training of disease detectives with close to 100 field epidemiologist (FETP) fellows graduated since 2015; and
Help establishing, training, and equipping the Ministry’s Emergency Operations Center system for emergency health response.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy in Uganda.