Democratic Republic Of Congo
The African Union on Friday called for urgent international actions to tackle the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The call by the AU’s Director for the Africa Centre for Disease Control comes on the back of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the outbreak as a global emergency Wednesday July 17.
“This means the outbreak is serious, unusual, unexpected and is spreading, and carries implication for public health beyond the affected state’s national borders and require international action”, John Nkengasong told a press conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Nkengasong also said the Union will activate its voluntary corps deployment.
“The Africa CDC will activate the African herald voluntary corps deployment. As you may recall, this was a group of individuals that were trained and used effectively by the African Union during the West African Ebola disease outbreak and it turned out to be a ‘game changer’ in defining how much, how quickly we ended that response’‘, he said.
So far, 2,522 Ebola cases have been confirmed and 1,705 deaths registered as of July 18 in this Central African nation, the AU said.
Reuters
Go to video
Africa: New study suggests climate change could mean declining malaria risk
01:42
Biden administration rebuilt refugee programmes after Trump-era cuts
02:34
DRC: South Kivu launches large-scale vaccination
01:38
Sexual violence in conflict increased by 50% in 2023, says UN
01:13
WHO approves new cholera vaccine that could help fight surge in cases
01:30
UN reports widening global inequality in sexual and reproductive health and rights