• William Bazeyo, James Bagonza, Ali Halage, Gildo Okure, Malimbo Mugagga, Robert Musoke, Mathias Tumwebaze, Suzan Tusiime, Steven Ssendagire, Immaculate Nabukenya, Steven Pande, Christine Aanyu, Samuel Etajak, and Elizeus Rutebemberwa.
• School of Public Health, Makerere University College of Health sciences.
• Pan Afr Med J. 2015 Jan 1; 20: 404.

IntroductionWest Africa is experiencing the largest ever reported Ebola outbreak. Over 20,000 people have been infected of which about 9000 have died. It is possible that lack of community understanding of the epidemic and lack of institutional memory and inexperienced health workers could have led to the rapid spread of the disease. In this paper, we share Uganda's experiences on how the capacity of health workers and other multidisciplinary teams can be improved in preparing and responding to Ebola outbreaks.MethodsMakerere University School of Public Health in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), trained health care workers and other multidisciplinary teams from six border districts of Uganda so as to increase their alertness and response capabilities towards Ebola. We used participatory training methods to impart knowledge and skills and guided participants to develop district epidemic response plans. Communities were sensitized about Ebola through mass media, IEC materials, and infection control and prevention materials were distributed in districts.ResultsWe trained 210 health workers and 120 other multidisciplinary team members on Ebola surveillance, preparedness and response. Evaluation results demonstrated a gain in knowledge and skills. Communities were sensitized about Ebola and Districts received person protective equipments and items for infection prevention. Epidemic Preparedness and Response plans were also developed.ConclusionTraining of multidisciplinary teams improves the country's preparedness, alertness and response capabilities in controlling Ebola. West African countries experiencing Ebola outbreaks could draw lessons from the Uganda experience to contain the outbreak.

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