How prepared is Kenya for an Ebola outbreak?
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The first two confirmed Ebola cases in Kenya have raised urgent questions about the country's public health preparedness and border controls. But the Health Ministry says there is no need for panic.
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Kenya is rushing to contain Ebola cases linked to the deadliest outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The East African nation has reported two cases and one death. The DRC has reported more than 9,000 cases and 4,400 deaths.
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Kenya's first Ebola patient died at Nairobi hospital on October 5. The 40-year-old Kenyan had traveled by road from the DRC to Uganda before boarding a flight to Nairobi in Entebbe on October 3.
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One of his relatives is now confirmed to have contracted the virus. The 39-year-old was under quarantine when he developed symptoms on October 13. "Both cases are linked, and there is no evidence of spread in the wider community," Kenya's health ministry said.
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Contact tracing has been ongoing since officials first detected the case. Of the 128 people who came into contact with the first Ebola patient, 113 have been identified, according to the health ministry. All, except five — who are in unspecified countries abroad—have been quarantined.
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Public anxiety is rising, along with fears of lockdowns and economic disruption, and skepticism about government readiness.
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"It's a very dangerous disease, so it's very shocking," a Nairobi resident told DW.
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Another citizen said he was disappointed: "The government has been caught unaware. It appears to me that the government was not prepared, especially at the entry point of this particular person who was found to be suffering from Ebola."
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One woman said she felt there was a lack of public information on the disease. "The government should do more in educating and sensitizing about it, and raising awareness," she said.
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Kenya's Health Ministry, through Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, has been seeking to allay fears, urging Kenyans to remain vigilant and encouraging anyone who develops symptoms to report to the nearest medical facility. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), symptoms can develop between two and 21 days after infection.
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Early symptoms include: fever, fatigue, malaise, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. Later, a patient may suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and kidney and liver infection.
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However, these symptoms might be similar to other illnesses such as malaria or typhoid, and only an Ebola test can confirm if one has been exposed to the virus.
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Several prominent figures, medical unions and opposition politicians have criticized Kenya's response to its first Ebola cases. Former Chief Justice David Maraga, who has declared interest in running for the presidency in the 2027 election, questioned how a man carrying the Ebola virus could pass through screening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.
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"We don't know how many have been infected. We must demand appropriate action be taken so that we don't have deaths arising from that disease," Maraga told The Standard.
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Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya's vice president from 2008 to 2013, meanwhile noted that doctors at Nairobi Hospital, not border systems, detected the danger.
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Dennis Miskellah of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union believes that the Ebola cases show that Kenya's health system is not pandemic-ready. "This system is not yet resilient. This system did not learn from the COVID pandemic that we had a few years ago," he said.
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"Since May, we've had this outbreak in the region. Uganda, our immediate neighbor, had almost 20 cases. So, we had ample time to prepare adequately. But it seems like somebody dropped the ball."
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Kenya went on high alert after the DRC declared the Ebola outbreak in May. The government designated several hospitals as isolation centers.
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It also enhanced screening at airports and border points, deploying mobile labs. Flights from several African countries were ordered to land in designated airport wings for screening.
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"Top of it all is that there's has been a serious lapse of leadership in governance of healthcare this country," said Miskellah. "All those broken pillars, there's no clear responsibility or chain of command, whether its the Ministry of Health or the 47 county governments who are semi-automous."
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Capacity at some isolation centers is limited. Rural facilities lack resources such as the protective gear available at major hospitals, according to Miskellah. And there's also a shortage of health workers due to a freeze on public service workers.
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Meanwhile, healthcare workers, many of whom have no healthcare cover, are reportedly wary of putting their lives at risk. Dozens of Kenyan nurses and doctors lost their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Kenya's agreements on Ebola with its neighbors are being called into question since the first case was recorded in Kenya, which has one of the strongest healthcare systems in the region.
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Experts are questioning the state of regional cooperation on Ebola, given that borders have largely remained open despite the surge in cases and deaths.
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"Before we trust these agreements and cooperation, then we have have to audit them and question them so that we don't just blindly believe that Kenya is doing the right thing, or that the DRC is doing the right thing," said Miskellah. Then, there's the question of individual responsibility.
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Kenya requires travelers arriving from Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic and South Sudan to complete a health declaration form — truthfully. Adapted from the Africalink Podcast by Benita van Eyssen.
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