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The senior official of the World Health Organization (WHO) today said that he was "deeply worried" about the growing threat of spreading Ebola in other parts of the world. the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in neighboring countries, announced today 23 new ministries case.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter that most operations had resumed following the most recent attacks, but that the disruption and delay in testing would lead to an increase in the number of attacks. cases reported in the next few days.
Since the beginning of the current epidemic in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri in August, several violent incidents, some of which have resulted in a community protest, have disrupted the intervention of the Outbreak and caused an outbreak of cases.
"When we can not reach people, they do not have the opportunity to be vaccinated or to receive treatment if they get sick." The tragedy is that we have the technical means to stop Ebola but until all parties put an end to attacks on the response, be very difficult to end this epidemic, "said Tedros.
He also said that a strong increase in political and financial support from all national and international groups was urgently needed to help stem the epidemic.
New probable cases added, UN official visits Butembo
In its daily update, the DRC Ministry of Health reported that the 23 new cases came from 9 different localities, including 5 from Katwa and 5 from Butembo, two of the main hot spots. In addition, officials added an additional 22 probable cases, which are people who died in the community between January 30 and May 8 for which it was impossible to obtain samples, but after investigations had established links with confirmed cases. The evolution of the situation brings the total number of cases to 1 649 cases, 1 561 confirmed cases and 88 probable ones.
The response teams are still investigating 310 suspected cases of Ebola.
Nine others died as a result of their infections, eight of them belonging to six different communities and one to the Katwa Ebola Treatment Centers. Deaths pushed the total number of deaths in the epidemic to 1,105.
In addition, the ministry said that Leila Zerrougui, special representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC and head of the group's peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, has today visited the UNAMI teams. Intervention in Butembo to discuss the deterioration of the security situation in Butembo and the surrounding area.
She reiterated her support for the intervention teams and urged the groups to better align their information to address challenges and build trust with communities.
Public health needs negotiators for peace
Yesterday in a New England Journal of Medicine Jeremy Farrar, MD, PhD, director of the Wellcome Trust, said in his comment on epidemic preparedness that armed conflict in unstable regions can fuel disease transmission as people attempt to move, rendering care safely impossible.
He added that the outbreak of the Ebola outbreak in northeastern DRC was tragically unstable for 20 years and that the tragic impact of instability had become evident at the beginning. of the epidemic last August.
The epidemic could be impossible to contain as long as the violence will hinder the response several times. "And every day the epidemic continues, the risk of a national and regional health disaster increases," warned Farrar.
New approaches are needed to resolve tensions in and between countries, local communities, armed factions, health and humanitarian workers' groups, as well as national and international security forces, he said.
"Peace negotiators with experience in conflict resolution are now needed in the area of public health, and without their skills, potential pandemics will develop unchecked in vulnerable regions of the world, leading, sooner or later, to disaster, "said Farrar, adding that Germany was in crisis. Strong position to lead efforts to stabilize global health in insecure situations, given the priority given to preparedness issues during the G7 and G20 Presidencies.
See also:
May 10, update of the DRC
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Twitter feed
May 9 N Engl J Med comment
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