In September 2024, Rwanda experienced its first-ever filovirus outbreak of Marburg Virus Illness, a severe and typically deadly illness with case fatality ranging between 24% to 88%. The outbreak modified into as soon as officially declared on 27 September 2024 following investigations into a cluster of unexplained illnesses and deaths in Kigali. The space posed a ambitious public health discipline, with healthcare workers amongst the most affected, highlighting serious gaps in infection prevention and administration (IPC) measures within healthcare settings.
A Unified Response Pushed by Strategic Partnership
Led by the Ministry of Health, Rwanda’s response modified into as soon as marked by instant coordination and decisive movement, made imaginable through the successfully timed enhance of native and international partners. The collaborative efforts of the World Health Group (WHO), the European Union Humanitarian Help (ECHO), the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Trend Space of job (FCDO) and other building partners, in enhance of the Authorities of Rwanda, enabled the swift mobilization and deployment of required groups of consultants, the procurement and distribution of serious affords, and the instant capability building of frontline workers and other health knowledgeable, all within days of the outbreak affirmation.
WHO performed an crucial role by providing on the spot technical and operational support, which included deepest protecting tools (PPE), laboratory testing kits, case administration tools, and logistical enhance. Moreover, the group collaborated carefully with national authorities to enhance outbreak coordination, strengthen surveillance systems, and invent effective risk communication methods.
Dr Brian Chirombo, WHO Marketing consultant to Rwanda, highlighted the important role of successfully timed interventions, stating, “The generous funding from the ECHO and FCDO amongst other partners, modified into as soon as instrumental in ensuring the availability of important affords and empowering clinical examiners during a first-rate time. This enhance enabled swift laboratory testing, enhanced safety for healthcare workers, and the start of quality affected person care, in a roundabout blueprint resulting in improved health outcomes.”
Rapidly Deployment of The most important Consultants
At the interrogate of Ministry of Health, WHO mobilized a various neighborhood of highly renowned technical consultants to bolster Rwanda’s response across a total lot of serious areas. These areas included coordination, surveillance, laboratory operations, clinical case administration, IPC, psychological health and psychosocial enhance (MHPSS), logistics, and risk communication and neighborhood engagement (RCCE). These deployments ensured that national groups had win admission to to top-tier abilities and operational steering tailored to the explicit wants on the floor.
Moreover, 39 professionals from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda with abilities in efficiently managing filovirus outbreaks, gain been introduced in through WHO’s AVoHC-SURGE programme, to work alongside Rwandan groups. Their contributions gain been in particular important given the loss and illness of many native clinical examiners early in the outbreak. These frontline consultants performed a pivotal role in addressing human resource gaps, reinforcing IPC measures, and enhancing service start.
This deployment exemplified the vitality of South-to-South collaboration. Regional harmony, shared abilities, and cultural familiarity enabled swift, effective and contextually acceptable responses—offering a compelling model for future emergency preparedness and response efforts across Africa and beyond.
Scaling Up Training and Readiness
With the enhance of WHO, funding from ECHO and FCDO and in collaboration with other partners, the Ministry of Health applied intensive training initiatives for healthcare workers across all phases of the health system—from in truth good hospitals and district hospitals to neighborhood health services, Points of Entry (POEs), and the broader neighborhood. These initiatives fascinated by early detection, case identification, stable affected person handling, easiest practices in IPC, and neighborhood engagement. Moreover, up to date guidelines and identical outdated operating procedures gain been developed and disseminated, ensuring a fixed and harmonized procedure to containment and safety. This comprehensive approach in particular benefited healthcare workers, enhancing the quality-of-service start.
Exemplary Partnership in Action
Rwanda’s a success containment of the Marburg Virus Illness outbreak, achieving the lowest case fatality rate of twenty-two.7% amongst Marburg outbreaks in Africa, is a testament to the vitality of sturdy, coordinated partnerships. The collaborative response—led by the Ministry of Health and supported by WHO, ECHO, FCDO and other partners—demonstrated how strategic collaboration can rework a doable disaster into a controlled and successfully timed response.
This abilities underscores the serious significance of continued investment in health security, preparedness, and resilience. As Rwanda builds on the lessons learned and strengthens its public health systems, the Marburg response stands as both a national achievement and a regional model for collective movement in the face of future infectious illness threats.
Technical Contact
Dr Lyndah Makayoto, makayotol [at] who.int (makayotol[at]who[dot]int)
