Congo: more than 200 people died of Ebola – World

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of Ebola deaths has risen to more than 200. Since August, 291 cases of Ebola have been confirmed and 201 deaths reported, said Saturday the ministry of Health in Kinshasa. About half of the cases occurred in the 800,000-strong town of Beni in the troubled province of North Kivu on the border with Uganda. More than 28,000 people have been vaccinated against the disease, according to the ministry.

The UN on Friday called on armed groups in the region not to hinder the fight against highly contagious viral diseases. According to the Minister of Health, Oly Ilunga, there were repeated threats, attacks and kidnappings in which two badistants were killed.

Action Medeor called for more efforts from the global community to ensure poor people's access to health care. Speaking at a meeting of the World Health Organization on Thursday and Friday in Kazakhstan, Bernd Pastors, spokeswoman for the relief organization's executive committee, said: " Although the global community has made great strides, we are seeing increasing access to health care for the poor. "

Forty years ago, more than a hundred member states of the WHO had signed the statement that health was a human right, said Action Medeor. Millions of the world's poor are still dying of easy-to-treat diseases. In many parts of the world, there is a shortage of health workers, hospitals and medicines.

The devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa about five years ago shows that fighting diseases such as AIDS or malaria is not worth the effort, the pastoralists said. Only a functioning and well-equipped health system can protect people. Good primary health care, including immunization and treatment of malnutrition, could significantly reduce the number of child deaths while providing a more equitable state of health for all.

By the end of 2013, a devastating Ebola outbreak had affected several states in West Africa. In the following months, about 11,300 people died in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. It is the tenth outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the discovery of the disease in the country in 1976.

Ebola is a viral disease that is often fatal. Transmission occurs through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person. (AFP, dpa, epd)