ABSTRACT:
Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) such as Rift Valley Fever, Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, and Ebola and Marburg viruses, are a severe and recurrent public health threat in East Africa. Caused by RNA viruses from four distinct families, these diseases can progress from acute fever to vascular damage, bleeding, and high case-fatality rates. Their emergence is driven by a confluence of regional factors including climate variability, expansive pastoralist systems, deforestation, and urbanization. Despite their impact, the true burden of VHFs remains obscured by fragmented surveillance, limited diagnostic capacity, and a lack of integrated data, hindering effective outbreak prediction and response. This fragmentation is a daily reality for frontline clinicians, underscoring the urgent need for a consolidated, regional evidence base. This study aims to bridge that critical gap by conducting a comprehensive public health assessment of VHF prevalence, spatial-temporal patterns, and key determinants across ten East African countries. Employing a mixed-methods design, the study will integrate a systematic review of surveillance data (2010–2025), spatial analysis using GIS to map hotspots, regression modeling of climatic and health-system variables, and key-informant interviews with public health officials. We anticipate generating high-resolution risk maps identifying high-burden districts, quantifying outbreak determinants, and documenting critical surveillance gaps. The findings will provide a consolidated evidence base to directly inform regional health security initiatives, enabling targeted surveillance, resource allocation, and the development of context-specific early warning and response frameworks. Strengthening cross-border collaboration and adopting a One Health approach will be essential for sustainable outbreak prevention and resilience.