ARUSHA, TANZANIA – The East African Community (EAC) has significantly reinforced its regional health security network by signing a major cooperation agreement with the Government of Germany.
Aimed at combating the urgent regional threats of Mpox and Ebola, the landmark partnership secures a total funding package of €11 million (approximately Tanzanian Shillings 33 billion) to upgrade laboratory infrastructure and procure essential medical countermeasures.
Under the framework of this agreement, which was signed at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, €5 million (TSh 15 billion) has been allocated through the KfW Development Bank to specifically address the Mpox outbreak and enhance laboratory capacities.
Concurrently, the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development has committed an additional €3 million (TSh 9 billion) to bolster immediate Ebola response efforts, alongside a donation of 500 complete sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to safeguard frontline healthcare workers.
Speaking during the high-level signing ceremony, the Secretary General of the EAC, Amb. Stephen Mbundi, assured development partners that the regional bloc has aggressively scaled up its defense strategies against highly infectious diseases.
"I would like to assure you that the EAC has intensified regional coordination in response to current public health threats. This includes strengthening surveillance systems, enhancing laboratory capacity, and mobilizing technical expertise across Partner States," stated Amb. Mbundi.
Amb. Mbundi further highlighted that, through Germany's enduring financial support, the EAC has successfully deployed ten mobile laboratories across seven Partner States, namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. He noted that this network has already delivered exceptional diagnostic results during major public health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Ebola outbreak in Uganda, and the 2023 Marburg outbreak in Tanzania's Kagera region.
On his part, the Chargé d'Affaires of the German Embassy in Tanzania, Manuel Mueller, commended the EAC's proactive leadership, emphasizing that this long-standing partnership has consistently delivered tangible impacts across East Africa since 2016.
"The East African Community does an excellent work in terms of regional integration, and Germany is a long-standing partner of the East African Community to continue to support the work, the very valuable work of the EAC," Manuel Mueller remarked.
Reflecting on his previous tenure as the German Ambassador to South Sudan during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2020, Manuel Mueller recalled how German-funded mobile laboratories equipped with PCR diagnostic machines enabled rapid case detection. He emphasized that the program's true strength lies in sustainable human resource development, as it goes beyond material donations to provide standardized, top-tier training for all EAC laboratory technicians at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Germany.
"Now, coming back again to a time where, in some of the EAC member states, an imminent outbreak could be detected, and it's good that, due to the excellent work of EAC, there are already structures to work on that. The German government has decided to give an additional support of 3 million euros to this project with the mobile labs, and also for protective material for these EAC countries," the Chargé d'Affaires concluded.
This coordinated intervention is projected to streamline regulatory frameworks and accelerate approval mechanisms for critical vaccines and therapeutics, effectively securing a safer and more resilient health environment for all East African citizens.
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