Zimbabwe has approved the establishment of a provisional Ebola virus disease contingency fund as authorities intensify border surveillance and health screening in response to a widening outbreak affecting several African countries.
Information Minister Zhemu Soda said the fund is based on a costed needs assessment designed to ensure immediate financing should a suspected case arise.
“Cabinet approved the creation of a provisional contingency fund to support rapid response operations, including surveillance, laboratory strengthening, infection‑prevention supplies, point‑of‑entry screening and deployment of rapid‑response teams,” Soda said after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting.
He revealed that that the government had heightened monitoring at all points of entry amid warnings from continental health agencies that regional risk has increased sharply.
He said the country’s Integrated Disease Surveillance system, supported by weekly epidemiological reporting and trained personnel, had been activated to strengthen preparedness.
Zimbabwe has not recorded any Ebola cases but officials say the measures are necessary given the scale of the outbreak in neighbouring regions and the speed at which the Bundibugyo strain has spread.
Soda said Zimbabwe’s exposure is driven largely by population mobility across regional borders, making early detection and rapid containment essential.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recently identified at least 10 additional countries as being at elevated risk while the World Health Organisation has declared the Bundibugyo‑strain outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern.
More than 150 deaths have been recorded in the DRC where the outbreak continues to expand.
JN/APA