Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda has asked the United States to support efforts to lift travel advisories imposed during the country’s Ebola outbreak, saying its successful containment of the disease should restore confidence in the country and boost trade, tourism and investment.
The appeal was made on Monday by the Minister of Finance , Henry Musasizi, during a meeting with the United States Chargé d’Affaires to Uganda, Mikael Cleverley, at the Ministry of Finance in Kampala.
Uganda was recently declared Ebola-free after completing the required surveillance period without recording any new cases.
Musasizi said Uganda’s successful management of the outbreak should be recognised internationally.
“The country has been successful in fighting Ebola,” Musasizi said, urging the US envoy “to tell the world about Uganda’s record, capacity and the need to lift all travel restrictions to and from Uganda which are negatively affecting trade, tourism and investment.”
The minister and the US envoy also discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation in the health sector, with particular emphasis on improving transparency and accountability in the management of donor funding under the Development Objectives Assistance Agreement (DOAG).
Musasizi thanked the United States for its continued support to Uganda’s health sector over the years and welcomed efforts to improve oversight of health financing.
“I welcome the idea of having full visibility of all funds received directly by Government and also the partners supporting the health sector,” Musasizi said.
The meeting comes after Uganda and the United States signed a five-year US$2.3 billion memorandum of understanding on health cooperation aimed at strengthening the country’s health system and improving health outcomes.
Under the agreement, the United States plans to provide up to US$1.7 billion to support programmes targeting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, disease surveillance, maternal and child health, among other public health priorities.
Cleverley reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to working with Uganda to improve health outcomes and said American support would continue to focus on priority health programmes.
He said the proposed Strategic Objective Agreement would provide a more detailed legal and programmatic framework for government-to-government cooperation in the health sector.
The US envoy also commended Uganda for its handling of the Ebola outbreak, saying the country’s response had demonstrated strong public health capacity and would help pave the way for the lifting of travel advisories introduced during the health emergency.
