EAC launches Regional Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy Framework to strengthen health security across the region

EAC launches Regional Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy Framework to strengthen health security across the region

Written on 22 January 2026. Posted in Health

East African Community Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania, 22^nd January, 2026: The East African Community (EAC) has officially launched its inaugural Regional Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) Policy Framework, an instrument designed to strengthen collective action against public health emergencies across the eight EAC Partner States.

The Policy Framework, approved by the 25th EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health in May 2025, provides a harmonized roadmap that reflects EAC's commitment to strengthening surveillance systems through collaboration with partner states and prioritizing the most vulnerable members of the community, putting them at the center of equitable public health systems.

It integrates the One Health approach, recognizing that diseases can be transferred from animals to humans and hence involves other sectors, including agriculture and livestock, tourism, and climate change.

According to the EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Infrastructure, Productive, Social, and Political sectors, Hon. Andrea Aguer Ariik Malueth, the launch is timely; countries have the opportunity to use the lessons learnt from recent public health emergencies, including Ebola, Marburg, COVID-19, cholera, and Mpox. "We have learnt that Pandemic preparedness is not the responsibility of the health sector alone. It requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach."

Hon. Malueth further stressed the importance of collaboration among EAC Partner States and sector actors in order to accelerate progress in curbing and managing pandemics. "Our strength lies in coordinated action, shared responsibility, and regional solidarity," he said. "This framework provides a practical foundation to move from policy to implementation at national, sub-national, and cross-border levels."

In his remarks, APHRC's Deputy Executive Director, Dr. Joseph Gichuru, commended the partnership between APHRC and the EAC that led to the development and adoption of the Framework. "The adoption of the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) Policy Framework in May 2025 stands as a powerful endorsement of what we can achieve when we choose unity over isolation."

Delivering a keynote address, Dr. Kamene Kimenye, Acting Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Kenya, highlighted the region's vulnerability to both endemic and emerging diseases, noting that health threats in one Partner State quickly become regional concerns in a shared economic and social space .

"The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in surveillance, diagnostics, supply chains, and vaccine access," she said. "This Policy Framework offers a comprehensive blueprint to strengthen resilience through cross-border coordination, digital innovation, sustainable financing, and meaningful community engagement."

The Framework addresses long-standing challenges, including fragmented coordination, limited resources, weak surveillance and information systems, and insufficient community and gender-responsive approaches. At the same time, it leverages opportunities in digital health, regulatory harmonization, pooled procurement, and regional pharmaceutical manufacturing to advance self-reliance and early warning and response capabilities.

The launch marks a significant milestone in the East African Community's efforts to build a coordinated, interoperable, and resilient health system capable of preventing, detecting, and responding to future pandemics. As the region moves toward implementation, the EAC called on governments, development partners, research institutions, civil society, the private sector, and the media to join in translating the Framework into concrete action that safeguards lives, livelihoods, and regional development.

For more information, please contact:

Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department
EAC Secretariat
Arusha, Tanzania
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http://www.eac.int

About the East African Community Secretariat:

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional intergovernmental organisation of eight (8) Partner States, comprising the Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republic of South Sudan, the Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The Federal Republic of Somalia was admitted into the EAC bloc by the Summit of EAC Heads of State on 24^th November, 2023 and became a full member on 4^th March, 2024.