Ebola Campaign: Uganda raises awareness among refugee community

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And neighboring Uganda has scaled up its communication efforts to increase awareness of Ebola among Congolese refugees arriving in the country. CGTN's Daniel Arapmoi reports from Kagoma Reception center, a point of entry for fleeing Congolese refugees into Uganda.

As the first case of Ebola is confirmed in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo's most populated city to see Ebola yet, the Uganda government and relief agencies are on the ground working in refugee reception centers in Kyangwali and health facilities to sensitize refugees on how to recognize Ebola symptoms and safely triage and transfer suspected cases to Ebola treatment centers.

MARIA MUTEBI EBOLA EXPERT "If you find somebody dead instantly and you don't know what the person died of, it's not good for you to burry that person yourself, go to the health facility they will help you out, come with somebody trained to bury the person and they will bury the person instead of you contracting the disease from there."

Uganda is currently mobilizing the new arrivals from Congo's restive Ituri province, using communication strategies that include interpersonal communication, community engagement and capacity building in order to contain the deadly Ebola virus.

DANIEL ARAPMOI KYANGWALI, HOIMA DISTRICT, UGANDA "With the current threats of Ebola, officials are trying to sensitize the refugees, especially those coming in from the Democratic Republic of Congo on how Ebola is spread and how it can be prevented."

Trained health teams are currently mandated to conduct a range of activities to provoke engagement among the Refugees, regarding Ebola preparedness, prevention and control.

ARON BALAGADE DATA CLERK, KAGOMA HEALTH POST "There are digital thermometers which read their temperatures so we screen for Ebola for the new arrivals and we monitor them for twenty one days so that's how we do our screening for Ebola."

Though the spread of the disease to Goma is a sign that the response still has work to do in gaining the trust of the local population, Uganda has made progress to reset and reevaluate the response strategy to effectively deal with the Ebola threat. Daniel Arapmoi, CGTN, Kyangwali reception center, Hoima district, Uganda.