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ST. PETERSBURG - The Government of Uganda has received a high-tech, cutting-edge mobile laboratory as a gift from the Russian Federation to assist with disease outbreaks.

The mobile truck was presented to health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng on Thursday in St Petersburg city, on the fringes of the second Russian-Africa Summit.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare's Anna Yuryevna Popova, who has served as the Russian Federation's Chief State Sanitary Doctor since October 23, 2013, handed over the truck to the minister.

 The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, which started on July 28, 2023, ended on Friday. 

Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health Uganda looking at Laboratory Safty suit after receiving a Mobile Labatory donated by the Government of Russia to Uganda. This Happened at the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersbury. On 27 July 2023. (All photos by Hajarah Nalwadda)

President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni and other African leaders went to Russia to discuss ways that Russia and Africa may collaborate to further development in Africa.

The inaugural summit was held from October 22–24, 2019, in Sochi with the theme: For peace, security, and development.

Aceng told New Vision Online in an interview after the handover that the mobile laboratory could be set up anywhere in Uganda and undertake virological and bacteriological tests on samples at the point of treatment.

“In other words, we shall go a long way in addressing various outbreaks that we face as a country like Ebola and Marburg We are extremely grateful to the Russian Federation for this initiative but also for collaborating with the government of Uganda and the Ministry of Health,” she said.

Aceng arrives at the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersbury on 27 July 2023.

She emphasised that the lab has a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine as well as numerous others that may be placed anywhere in the nation in the event of any outbreak.

“Like if we have an outbreak in the Southern part, we can take it there, or in the Northern part, we can still take it there,” she added.

Aceng said the beauty combined with modern technology, provides immediate outcomes at the point of service.

“It addresses issues of lead time and sample transportation from one point of community to Kampala. If we had five of these mobile laboratories as a country, it would go along with detection in real-time,” she noted.

Aceng added that the two nations also signed a roadmap for their cooperation, which outlines the timetables for meeting their shared goals in the areas of biological safety and biosecurity while also emphasizing biological sovereignty.

“We will also be working together in the areas of capacity building and research,” he added.