Seven occupants have been admitted to a U.S.-supported bio-isolation unit in Kenya following a decision to place the seven American workers of a voluntary aid organization who returned from Ebola response activities in DRC under compulsory quarantine.
After reaching an agreement, the American health workers have been transferred to the facility for isolation, which is part of the strict US quarantine rules requiring health workers returning from Ebola-affected areas to be kept under surveillance before they can join back community activities, among other things.
Towards this end, the use of the Kenyan facility is likely going to fuel up the legal and public discussion ongoing in the country after its opening, as is shown in the case of the bio-isolation facility, which has been challenged in courts and has raised debates around its location, objectives, and even the risk to a community. Local inhabitants, health care workers and people interested in public policy have taken sides on whether to support or resist the facility in question.
According to U.S. officials, the facility was created to ensure that, in case of an outbreak in the surrounding regions, a secure environment would be available to monitor and isolate persons who might have been exposed to the Ebola virus.
Kenyan local health departments and their counterparts who manage the national health policy system have stated clearly that the 7 aid workers have only been quarantined as a measure of precaution. At the same time, these authorities have made sure nobody thinks that the 7 aid workers have been actually tested positive for Ebola infection at all. The quarantine is just for safety, to limit the risks, whereas medical teams will follow the health status of aid workers over their entire periods at risk.
The action has been undertaken at the same time when East and Central African countries are under a very serious alert of outbreaks of Ebola in the Eastern parts of DRC, and thus their governments are strengthening surveillance, emergency response mechanisms and cross-border monitoring of infectious diseases.
Through the Kenya-based operation of this kind, it is highly probable for the country's position in the regional health situation security to come under serious discussion along with other factors like the legal challenges of the bio-isolation facility.
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