Update: Africa CDC Backs Kenya's Ebola Response, Faults Saudi Travel Restrictions
The continental health agency says it is giving Kenya about $1.5 million and 10 experts, and warns broad bans can push travelers onto unmonitored routes.
See where this is ›NAIROBI, Kenya —
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has praised Kenya's handling of its Ebola cases and criticized Saudi Arabia's travel restrictions on Kenyans, The Standard of Kenya reported Nov. 1. The new support comes after Kenya's protest of the Saudi measures.
See where this is ›Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya met Kenya's Health Cabinet Secretary, Aden Duale, on Oct. 27, according to the newspaper. The agency is providing about $1.5 million, 10 public health experts, and laboratory supplies and equipment. “Kenya did an excellent job,” Kaseya said of the country's handling of the infected traveler.
Africa CDC said it does not object to the aim of protecting populations, but it argued that broad travel restrictions should not be a primary health tool. It said they can hinder outbreak control, harm economies, discourage open reporting and push travel onto informal, unmonitored routes. Kaseya said the fastest way to protect countries is to “aggressively support outbreak control at the source.”
See where this is ›Saudi Arabia has suspended its citizens' travel to Kenya, halted all categories of visas for Kenyan travelers and barred anyone who was in Kenya or another Ebola-affected country within the previous 21 days. Kenya's Ministry of Health called the restrictions excessive and unsupported by its epidemiological situation.
Kenya notified the World Health Organization of its first reported case on Oct. 6, within 24 hours of laboratory confirmation, the report said. The patient, a Kenyan national, traveled about 2,300 kilometers from Beni in Congo's North Kivu province through Uganda to Kenya, went straight to a hospital on arrival and died despite treatment. The newspaper said Kenya's confirmed infections are all linked to one cluster tied to that case.
What we don't know yet: Whether Saudi Arabia will respond to Kenya or to Africa CDC or change its rules. These details come from one newspaper's report, and Watchman News did not read the Africa CDC statement itself.
