Global Fund Approves Nearly US$1 Million for Uganda’s Mpox Response
25 September 2024
GENEVA – At the request of the government of Uganda, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) has approved the reinvestment of US$850,683 to enhance the country’s capacity to prevent, detect and respond to the current mpox outbreak by procuring laboratory items essential for diagnosis. Some of the funding will also support diagnostics through wastewater surveillance.
The Global Fund’s long-standing support to Uganda’s laboratory services and the National Health Laboratories and Diagnostic Services (UNHLDS) supported the country to develop one of the best national laboratory networks on the continent, with experience in quickly identifying and stopping disease outbreaks. Further reinforced by additional investments during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola outbreak in 2022, the service quickly confirmed two mpox cases on 24 July when a rapid response team with a mobile testing lab was deployed to Kasese district near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To date, there are 24 confirmed cases in the country.
“We are grateful for this timely and important offer from the Global Fund. Given our geographical, historical, social, economic and security interactions with the regional epicenter on the west, Uganda is at a greater risk for rapid and sustained transmission of mpox than any other countries in the region,” said Dr. Henry Kyobe Bosa, an epidemiologist and Incident Management Team (IMT) Commander leading the government’s response for mpox, as well as the government’s response to COVID-19 and Ebola. “Our main aim is to limit fast spread of mpox to preserve the health system and avert death amongst the most vulnerable communities.”
The Global Fund has invested US$36 million in Uganda’s laboratory systems since 2020.
“If there’s one thing that we have learned even more clearly from COVID-19, it is that rapid diagnosis is the first line of defense against any infectious disease outbreak,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “There is a cross-cutting benefit of lab investment. A system that can diagnose COVID-19, Ebola and mpox quickly can identify HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria quickly and vice versa.”
Uganda’s extensive laboratory network
The UNHLDS reaches into even the most remote areas of the country with mobile laboratories and is now extending its services to nearby countries. Today the UNHLDS is a vast, interconnected digital network so that health care providers and their patients can send samples for testing and receive results almost in real-time.
When COVID-19 struck, the sample transportation network formed the basis of UNHLDS’ response: a built-in system to reach and test patients and monitor infections nationwide. The global pandemic ushered in a wave of research and technological innovations, building upon existing infrastructure and expertise. The UNHLDS also set up a mobile laboratory equipped with portable biosafety equipment, so that laboratory technicians can travel quickly to the site of an outbreak and safely test and identify dangerous pathogens such as COVID-19, Ebola and now mpox.
In close collaboration with the Global Fund, mpox capacities will also be incorporated into ongoing pandemic preparedness and response activities such as risk communications skills, health care provider training and transportation of samples to testing laboratories.
Wastewater surveillance
In addition to boosting laboratory capacity, US$121,818 of the reallocated funding will support wastewater surveillance, another important early warning tool that provides a community snapshot of health in a non-invasive, comprehensive and unbiased way. Wastewater surveillance was piloted with support from Project STELLAR during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now expanding to support the mpox response.
“We need to expand the scope,” says Dr. Susan Nabadda Ndidde, Commissioner and Executive Director of National Health Laboratories. “With emerging and re-emerging diseases and the changes that we are seeing for patients – we need to have very strong lab and surveillance systems that are able to respond.”
COVID-19 investments benefitting mpox response
The Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) is a funding mechanism specifically created to help countries fight COVID-19, mitigate the impact of that pandemic on programs to fight HIV, TB and malaria and reinforce health systems.
Investments through C19RM contributed significantly to the successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda and have also been strengthening the related health systems.
C19RM funding of US$232 million since 2020 has contributed to strengthening:
- disease surveillance systems;
- expanded laboratory systems.
- oxygen supply systems;
- community system strengthening;
- health care waste management systems;
- case management systems (including ambulances/dispatch centers);
- country coordination and planning (which is now the forefront team responding to the mpox outbreaks);
- infection prevention and control (including personal protective equipment and isolation rooms);
- capacity building and training of health staff for pandemic preparedness and response.
The investment in pandemic prevention and response during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond also played an important role in the effective response to the Ebola outbreak in 2022 and is now also contributing to the national response to mpox.