In 2013, the Uganda Ministry of Health with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), established the National Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (PHEOC) to enhance Uganda’s capacity to respond to disease outbreaks and other Public Health Emergencies. The National PHEOC has since played a key response role to numerous outbreaks including Ebola, Marburg, and COVID-19 among others.

The unprecedented scale of the COVID-19 outbreak in Uganda prompted the national PHEOC and the national COVID-19 Incident Management Team (IMT) to decentralize response coordination to the regional level.  This initiated the Kampala Metropolitan Area regional response mechanism serving the Kampala, Wakiso, and Mukono districts.

IDI, with funding from the CDC, is building on this work to support the establishment of a regional PHEOC in the Kampala Metropolitan Area. The goal of this PHEOC is to serve as the central node for well-coordinated response to public health events in the region as recommended by the National Action Plan for Health Security (2019 – 2023).

Key Achievements

  • Established regional response coordination platforms including the KMA COVID-19 Partner Engagement Platform which is instrumental in coordinating partner efforts to support the COVID-19 response.
  • Contributed to the development of key regional PHEOC guidance documents like the National Guidelines for Establishing Regional PHEOCs.
  • Improved coordination of public health events in the KMA for suspected cholera, yellow fever, chickenpox, and COVID-19 among others.
  • Trained key KMA health leadership staff in Regional Public Health Emergency Management

 

Success Story