https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Congo's Ebola outbreak to worsen without stepped-up response – WHO committee

Close

Embed Video

Congo's Ebola outbreak to worsen without stepped-up response – WHO committee

Congo's Ebola outbreak to worsen without stepped-up response – WHO committee
Photo by Reuters

18th October 2018

By: Reuters

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is likely to worsen significantly unless the response to it is stepped up, an emergency committee of experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

However, it does not yet constitute a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the emergency committee said.

Advertisement

"The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, WHO, and partners must intensify the current response. Without this, the situation is likely to deteriorate significantly," the committee said in a statement.

There have been 139 deaths and 215 probable and confirmed cases in the outbreak, which was declared on August 1. The WHO has said it could spread at any time to neighbouring Uganda or Rwanda, although both countries were well prepared.

Advertisement

"We do have some optimism that this outbreak will be brought under control in a reasonable time," committee chairperson Robert Steffen told a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Declaring a PHEIC, the first since the Latin American Zika virus outbreak in February 2016, would have ramped up the pace of the response, said Jeremy Farrar, head of Britain's Wellcome Trust.

"Declaring this could have released more resources, including finance, healthcare workers, enhanced security and infrastructure - as well as more international political support," he said in a statement.

"Whether it is defined as a PHEIC or not, this epidemic is at a crucial phase and in an incredibly difficult environment."

But Steffen said there were also disadvantages, such as travel and transport restrictions that could hinder the fight against Ebola. The committee said it was particularly important that no such restrictions were imposed.

Jamie LeSueur, head of the Congo Ebola response operation at the International Federation of the Red Cross, said insecurity was preventing healthworkers from getting to afflicted communities, causing an surge of cases.

"We are concerned that this will contribute to an accelerated spread of the disease, which poses increased risk to neighbouring provinces in DR Congo and neighbouring countries.”

Steffen said the committee had based its conclusions on three criteria - whether the outbreak was extraordinary, whether there was a risk of international spread, and whether there was a requirement for an international response.

The outbreak was very concerning for the region but not globally, he said, adding that no cases had yet been exported, and the international response was already underway.

"In one of the provinces the outbreak is pretty much mitigated, in another province it is just flaring up, but the the concentration of the response teams is now focusing on this new area," he said.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now