The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya, has criticised what he described as a lack of international interest in the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, arguing that a vaccine might already be available if the disease were affecting Western countries.
“If this outbreak was in Western countries, vaccine would already be available,” Kaseya said during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.
He attributed the limited progress in developing a vaccine partly to the relatively small number of outbreaks caused by the Bundibugyo strain compared with the Zaire strain, which has been responsible for more than 16 outbreaks.
“Why this vaccine today is not available? Because some of our partners, they decided to consider this issue as an African issue, they were not interested,” he said.
Kaseya said the Africa CDC was taking a more active role in addressing the gap by supporting efforts to develop vaccines and initiate clinical trials of potential candidates.
He disclosed that an African manufacturer based in Egypt was conducting clinical trials of a potential vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain.
The agency was also working with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to facilitate the availability of Ervebo, a vaccine developed against the Zaire strain, for clinical trials and compassionate use, he said.
Kaseya said the initiatives formed part of a broader effort to prevent Africa from being sidelined in the development and production of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools.
“We don’t want to see again Africa left behind. We have the knowledge, we have people with intelligence, we have capacity to manufacture vaccine. We need to move on,” he said.
He stressed that the outbreak should prompt lasting changes in how African countries prepare for public health emergencies, including increased local vaccine production, stronger coordination among international partners and greater domestic investment in health security.
Kaseya also disclosed that 28 African countries had contributed funds towards the outbreak response, describing their participation as evidence of growing commitment to financing the continent’s public health emergencies.
“This is the first time I saw 28 African countries coming to provide funding to support the response, more than 50 per cent of African countries,” he said.
He added, “After Ebola, Bundibugyo will not be like before Bundibugyo,” emphasising the need to strengthen Africa’s capacity to develop vaccines and respond to future outbreaks.
Nigeria confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola in the Federal Capital Territory on October 20. The patient, a woman who had recently travelled from Uganda, was receiving medical care, while health authorities identified 44 contacts for monitoring.
