May 6, 2019
Ebola Outbreak Not a Global Emergency, Says World Health Group
(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) - The World Health Organization has declined to declare the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo a global health emergency because the disease is currently limited to two provinces, reports Science.
On the same day, WHO reported the efficacy of an Ebola vaccine that is going through a preliminary trial to be 97.5 percent at preventing infection, reports STAT, a health-oriented news website.
The current outbreak began in August 2018, and 1,200 cases have been reported since then, reports STAT.
“It was an almost unanimous vote that this would not constitute a PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern) because we are moderately optimistic that this outbreak can be brought into control—not immediately, but still within a foreseeable time,” Robert Steffen of the University of Zurich said at a news conference, according to Reuters.
The previous Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea from 2014 to 2016 resulted in 28,600 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experts differ on whether making the outbreak an international emergency would help the current situation. “I do think conditions have been met for declaring it. It’s at least as serious as public health emergencies of international concern that have been declared so in the past,” Tom Inglesby of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was quoted to say. “And I think it’s a mistake because I think it could have drawn in more international attention, political will and support.”
But David Fidler of Indiana University says that declaring this outbreak a global emergency declaration “would not on its own change the trajectory of this outbreak,” reports STAT.
In the last two weeks, there’s been an increased rate in the number of new cases, to double digits per day, due to a lack of access to services and because the outbreak area is in a conflict zone, reports STAT. “WHO has noted it is woefully short of the $148 million it says is needed to fight Ebola for the next six months,” reports the Associated Press. After nine months, “the epidemic is definitely not under control,” Trish Newport of Doctors Without Borders tells the AP.
“Given the average number of cases we’re seeing now, this is not going to be over for at least another six months or more,” Tariq Riebl of the International Rescue Committee told the AP.
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