IN recent years, Tanzania has been put to test to address the various challenges one being the emerging deadly pandemics such as the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Ebola and of course the most recent—Marburg—a virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease.

However, on Thursday last week, Minister for Health, Jenista Mhagma, announced that Tanzania is now free from Marburg virus disease after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on January 28, 2025. The news is a relief indeed taking into consideration how deadly the disease is.

Marburg outbreaks, including the one which was declared on January 20th, 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in Lake Zone’s Kagera Region.

It is also understood that each Tanzanian strives against all odds to maintain their health and thus, news about pandemics are not well received.

As we celebrate the milestone of our country being free from Marburg, it is also wise to do a recollection of the stakeholders who made it possible for the country to spare its citizens.

As has been the case and routine, the government came with a plan of action to handle the situation where the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) chipped in to provide the support to community radios under the Network of Community Media in Tanzania (TADIO) to spare Tanzanians from the pandemic.

The intervention saw UNICEF and the network of community media engage journalists with awareness creation messages and radio programmes to allay public fear on the pandemic.  The relentless efforts by the government in collaboration with TADIO and support from UNICEF have a lot to do with the achievements we celebrate in our country being free from Marburg.

Following the move, WHO Tanzania hailed the milestone made by the government to eliminate the disease, with Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania, emphasising on the need for growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region.

WHO Tanzania said that measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks, building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response.

Sadly, a few days ago, we were informed that Mpox (formerly known as Monkeypox), is in the country.  Now as we worry about the Mpox, let us emulate the best practice by UNICEF and other stakeholders that helped to ensure Kagera Region becomes Marburg free.  

Health Minister, Jenister Mhagama confirmed the first two cases of Mpox on March 10th, 2025. Her announcement marked the first time the disease has been reported in Tanzania.

Individuals, exhibiting symptoms like facial, hand, and foot rashes, along with fever, headaches, sore throats, and body aches, were tested after the ministry received reports on March 7th, 2025.

It has been done before, it can be done now.  Let us fully utilize the media, especially radios to create public awareness about the disease.   Let us resume our hand washing routine as we did during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Marburg and COVID-19 were here but we managed to overcome it.  Let us work together and use the media while knowing that Mpox will too go as we say This Too Shall Pass. 

The writer can be reachable via sangunangwa @gmail.com