KISORO- Despite the alarming rates of Mpox disease in Democratic Republic of Congo and its contagious nature, Bunagana border in Kisoro district still grapples with the influx of Congolese crossing the border in and outside Uganda.
Our reporter visited the border on Tuesday 3rd September 2024, Tuesday being the market day at both Ugandan side and DRC sides, the number of people crossing the border explodes beyond the routine numbers.
At the border he caught up with the in charge of the health facility at the border Innocent Nkurunziza who narrated the situations at hand amidst inadequate resources including detergents and manpower. He disclosed that the government staff deployed to man screening at the border is inadequate yet the partners such as AMREF Uganda pulled out some of their front line personals at the border.
He in the similar way depicted how the Red Cross staff at the border is also not sufficient citing under funding from their partners thus automating the over straining of the available manpower.
Whilst at the border, our reporter noticed the authorities on the DRC side putting in place the handwashing facilities as a Mpox mitigating measure.
Upon inquiry, Kfm understood that after suspected MPOX victim at the border on Wednesday 28th August 2024, the militias in DRC sought for health guidance from Uganda’s medical personals at the border.
However, after the guidance the Ugandan team committed to share with the other side some detergents as a key step in ensuring prevention goals.
Economically, the business in Bunagana town council operates normally. In the interaction with the chairperson of the business community James Hashaka revealed that unlike other pandemics such as Covid-19 and Ebola not forgetting military confrontations on DRC side between M23 and Congolese army, the business people are operating normally.
James said that standard operating procedures are observed by few individuals especially elites and enforcement teams.
