Kenya’s first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola exposed gaps in how countries in the region share information about infectious diseases, according to the chairperson of the Chronic Disease Society of Kenya, Faith Okwayo.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Thursday, Okwayo said Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) needed stronger systems for sharing health data in real time to detect and contain diseases before they crossed borders.
“We could have collaborated proactively and had that predictive channel rather than now we are reacting and we are receiving and now we have to catch up,” she said.
Okwayo said Ebola had long been treated as a problem affecting countries such as the DRC, despite its potential to spread across borders.
“Ebola is a regional health risk and concern,” she said, adding that countries needed to maintain a “very high suspicion index” when dealing with possible cases.
She said the absence of a wider outbreak in Kenya should not lead to complacency, noting that the case remained imported and isolated.
“For it to be an outbreak, there has to be multiple clusters,” she said, explaining that the situation remained containable as long as health authorities could trace contacts and prevent further transmission.
Okwayo said the distinction between preparedness and an outbreak was important when assessing Kenya’s response.
“There's a difference between preparedness and a risk going out of hand,” she said, arguing that the country’s health system should be assessed on how prepared it was to respond rather than only after transmission increased.
She also raised concerns about the difficulty of identifying Ebola in its early stages because some symptoms resembled more common illnesses.
Fatigue, fever, headaches and difficulty swallowing could mimic conditions such as malaria and tonsillitis, while more severe symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating and bleeding were easier to identify.
“If we don't have a high suspicion index, and if we do not sensitise our primary touch points,” Okwayo said, health workers could miss opportunities to identify cases early.
She said real-time health information should allow frontline workers to receive alerts and risk-stratify patients before severe symptoms emerge.
The expert described cross-border information sharing as part of “health diplomacy”, where countries coordinated their response to diseases that did not respect national boundaries.
“Health transcends borders,” she said, arguing that regional health authorities needed stronger mechanisms for sharing information.
Her remarks come as the country continues to strengthen its Ebola response after confirming its first imported Bundibugyo Ebola case involving a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), travelled overland to Uganda and later flew to Nairobi on Jambojet flight JM8523 on October 3.
The patient arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and was later taken to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated and tested positive. He died in Nairobi, prompting an expanded contact-tracing operation
The Ministry of Health on Wednesday said 57 contacts had been identified, with 10 people in quarantine.
The government has stressed that Kenya is dealing with an imported case under management rather than a wider Ebola outbreak.
Authorities have increased surveillance at 15 points of entry and activated isolation and treatment capacity, with five designated facilities providing a combined 241 beds.