UK gives Uganda Shs6billion to support COVID-19 activities

Kampala, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT |  The UK government has allocated 1.3million euros (about she 6.1billion) to Uganda to support the Coronavirus (COVID-19) response.

According to a statement released on Thursday, the money goes to the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration with specific roles attached to each.

While WHO will use the money to strengthen coordination of preparedness and response activities including surveillance and laboratory confirmation of cases, the IOM is focusing on border point surveillance where they will recruit health officials in addition to orienting officials in the districts.

Commenting about the funding, the WHO Uganda Country Representative, Dr. Woldermariam Tegnen said they plan to have specialists attached to the already established regional hubs such that they can offer technical assistance at that level.

In addition he said the money will be used to support the epidemiologists attached to the incident manager at the Ministry of Health headquarters to enable functionality of the response mechanism which involves following proper referral of cases.

However, this assistance comes in at a time when cases are skyrocketing to cover 9,000 in Uganda.

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