‘Africa on its own’: Little help in epidemics, says official

Africa must plan to respond effectively to disease outbreaks without international help, a top public health official said Wednesday, warning that the continent of 1.3 billion people is “on its own” during pandemics.

As assistance often never materializes, African nations must plug gaps in their response to outbreaks as such as Ebola in Uganda, said Ahmed Ogwell, acting head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This is not the first outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola virus here in Africa and particularly here in Uganda,” he said. “We, unfortunately, at this time do not have rapid diagnostics for this particular strain. Neither do we have the vaccines for it.”

Ogwell spoke in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, where African public health officials and others are meeting to plan cross-border cooperation in responding to Ebola.

Uganda declared an outbreak of Ebola on Sept. 20.

Africa’s 54 countries have not received adequate