Bujumbura - The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat with the support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) held (5-8/12) its biannual meeting of the Technical Working Group for Communicable and Non–Communicable Diseases to monitor and review the progress in the implementation of the various projects and programmes in the Health Sector. 

 The meeting which was held in Bujumbura, Burundi, brought together experts and senior officials from the EAC Partner States’ National Ministries responsible for Health, Ministries responsible for EAC Affairs as well as the East African Secretariat Officials, and the development partners. 

The meeting offered an opportunity for senior technical experts from the region to get updates on projects in the pipeline, consider progress in the implementation of key programme activities as well as review programme and strategic documents developed during the reporting period. The meeting aimed to assess the progress of implementation of activities under the TWG on Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases and prepare recommendations and directives to be considered by the 24th Meeting of the EAC Sectoral Council on Health.  
 
During the meeting progress on pandemic preparedness, pandemic prevention, and response, were discussed.  The meeting also considered the EAC strategic roadmap for health programming at Points of Entry and reviewed the progress of implementation of projects and programmes such as the EAC Region Project and the Global Programme for Pandemic Prevention and Response, One Health, the EAC’s Regional Network of Public Health Reference Laboratories for Communicable Diseases project, the Great Lakes Malaria Initiatives, and East African Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Network.

Funding for new projects such as the EAC/IOM IDF Cross Border Health Programme, and the IOM and EAC US-CDC project supporting the IDF project to establish an Integrated Cross-Border Health Management Information System and Digitization Platform were also talked about. 

The meeting recommended the EAC Secretariat to submit the Strategic Roadmap for Health Programming at Points of Entry (POEs) and related projects to the 24th Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health for consideration and approval; submit the proposed structure of the EAC One Health Unit to the 24th Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health for consideration and approval, establish collaboration and partnerships to mitigate anti-malarial resistance and finalize and report to the Malaria Expert Working group and the EAC Sectoral Council of Health for consideration and harmonize and alignment of new projects and interventions to the already existing ones to ensure synergy and avoid duplications.
 
IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. Although migration and mobility are widely recognized as determinants of ill health and risk exposure, the ease of today's travel presents new challenges to cross-border disease control and underscores the need for joint efforts across governments and agencies. IOM due to the nature of its mandate, is best placed to act in preventing, detecting, and responding to health threats, including communicable diseases along mobility pathways, notably through the Health, Border, and Mobility Management (HBMM) framework which will be part of the initiatives that IOM will be working with EAC.

The joint initiatives between IOM, the EAC and different government actors will enable the development of cross-border health policies to strengthen cross border disease surveillance.

For more information, please contact, Viviane Nzeusseu, Regional Migration Health Specialist: Email: vnzeusseu@iom.int