The Ebola outbreak in Congo is not yet a global emergency: MEDICINE AND HEALTH: Science Times



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Ebola virus
(Photo: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/virus-microscope-infection-illness-1812092/)

GENEVA – There is an epidemic of Ebola in Congo and despite the large number of deaths, the United Nations has declared that this still does not justify a global emergency. It is rather a "major concern" for the World Health Organization, as reported on Friday.

After a meeting between its experts, the United Nations announced that they were not worried about the number of patients infected with the Ebola virus in Congo. The recent increase in the number of patients affected by this disease has increased the risk of spread of the disease in other countries.

The outbreak has been officially announced in August 1, 2018 and killed hundreds of people. In fact, experts say this is the second most deadly epidemic in history. The first was that of West Africa that lasted two years and killed more than 11,000 people. The Ministry of Health of Congo reported 1,206 confirmed cases, including 764 deaths.

Committee Chair Robert Steffen said the decision not to make it a global problem was unanimous. They feared that this would undermine the efforts of the UN to prevent more people from dying. Although he did not elaborate on this decision, he said that experts from the World Health Organization and the UN were "rather optimistic" about the situation and that they thought the outbreak would be controlled ".predictable time."

However, before the announcement made by the WHO, a Red Cross official expressed great concern about the outbreak. His The possible regional spread is alarming. Emanuele Capobianco, head of the Red Crescent Societies, quoted the report released by Congo's Ministry of Health, which revealed 40 new cases in two days. He mentioned this problem as unprecedented even for this epidemic.

Emergency declarations require that a home be "serious, unexpected and unusual" and threaten other countries to such an extent that it requires "immediate action by the international committee". Emergency declarations improve the situation because they would attract the attention of the whole world, not forgetting that donations would arrive in abundance.

"The World Health Organization's decision is truly disappointing, and they take a rather narrow view of the situation," said Rebecca Katz, a global safety expert from Georgetown University. She also referred to the seemingly coordinated response as something quite "alarming".

In contrast, Trish Newport, a representative of Doctors Without Borders, said that "greater help is not necessarily better." After nine months of using the same strategy, she believes that the problem in Congo "is still not under control".

Tariq Riebl, the doctor based in the current hot spot for Ebola, said: "We are discovering cases of Ebola when it is too late." He added that cases of dead Ebola patients have been buried without the authorities' knowledge.

"Given the number of cases we have now, we might have a hard time ending it in six month."Said Riebl.

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