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Kenya: Health experts from Kenya and other parts of the world are fine-tuning a strategic plan to combat infectious diseases that spread rapidly across international borders through migrants in the face of the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
The experts from the Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation and United Nations meeting in Mombasa are working on a document to strengthen disease screening measures and assist migratory populations.
Speaking at the second national consultation on migration health at the Nyali Beach Hotel yesterday, Health Services Deputy Director Bernard Muia said there would be screening of migrants at Kenya's porous borders.
"Diseases like polio usually come from across borders because of the movement of people. In future, we are going to introduce comprehensive screening at the borders in the face of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa," Dr Muia said.
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Health Programme and Assistance Regional Co-ordinator Paola Pace said it was important to strengthen migrants' healthcare since Kenya was a major transit point for those moving between the southern and northern regions.
"At the moment, there is lack of knowledge among migrants about their rights to healthcare and some cannot afford the services," she said.
She said in Kenya, in line with the Ebola Virus Disease preparedness and response plan, the UN joint working group including WHO and IOM is developing a strategy to support the Government's national contingency plan to prevent panic and control outbreak of Ebola.
The joint efforts aim to raise awareness to reduce panic and misconceptions, support national surveillance and detection, case management, infection prevention control and resource mobilisation.
"IOM could be involved in laboratory and contact tracing, advocacy especially at the county level, and social mobilisation and risk communication," she said in a statement.
IOM will soon start managing three Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs) in Liberia, and recruit and train staff.
In Sierra Leone, it will establish a training academy for Ebola healthcare workers that will train 800 staff every week to be deployed to six ETUs.
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