The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is a world-wide emergency

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo constituted a "public health emergency of international concern", a rare designation used only for the most serious epidemics. serious.

The one-year Ebola epidemic in eastern DRC, the second deadliest one ever recorded, has been largely contained in remote areas, but this week one patient was diagnosed with the virus in Goma, the capital of the province, the first case in a large urban center.

"It is time for the whole world to take note of this situation," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the president of the WHO, when he accepted the advice of his advisory council. To invoke the emergency provision, activated four times previously by the United Nations health agency.

Goma is a border town of about one million inhabitants located on the north shore of Lake Kivu, close to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. By JOHN WESSELS (AFP)

These included the pandemic H1N1 or swine flu of 2009, the spread of poliovirus in 2014, the Ebola outbreak that devastated parts of West Africa. from 2014 to 2016 and the recrudescence of the Zika virus in 2016.

Ebola is highly contagious and has an average mortality rate of about 50%. It is transmitted to humans by wild animals and spreads by close contact with the blood, body fluids, secretions or organs of an infected person.

Stakeholders had hoped that the Ebola outbreak would be easier to control, including through a new vaccine.

While more than 160,000 people in the affected provinces of North Kivu and Ituri have been vaccinated, containment efforts have been hampered by chronic conditions in the region and lack of confidence of health workers in the affected areas. communities.

A group of senior WHO officials meeting Wednesday in Geneva to issue the emergency appeal expressed their "disappointment at the funding delays that have limited the response".

A new call for UN funds in the amount of $ 700 million to cover the next six months is expected in the coming days.

Reacting to the emergency declaration, the president of Doctors Without Borders, Joanne Liu, called for "a gear shift" in the response to the epidemic.

Stakeholders had hoped that the Ebola outbreak would be easier to control, including through a new vaccine. By Pamela TULIZO (AFP / File)

"We need to take stock of what works and what does not work," she said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies welcomed this decision, hoping that the "urgent appeal" will attract the international attention that this crisis deserves. "

The Goma case "changes the deal"

Since last August, the Ebola epidemic in the DRC has killed more than 1,600 people over 2,500.

The WHO has refrained from making the emergency declaration three times, but the confirmation of a case in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, has aggravated the crisis.

This week Tedros called the Goma patient a "potential gambling changer" as the city is a "gateway" to the Great Lakes region and the world.

The Goma patient was described as an evangelical preacher who went to Goma from Butembo, one of the cities hardest hit by Ebola.

The WHO has refrained from making the emergency declaration three times, but the confirmation of a case in Goma has aggravated the crisis. By ISAAC KASAMANI (AFP / File)

He reportedly touched several Ebola patients in Butembo and concealed his identity to escape medical screenings on his trip to Goma.

The emergency committee cited the deceased patient as a "specific cause of concern".

Even though the risk of global spread is "still low," the Goma case has presented "disturbing signs of possible extension of the epidemic," the committee said.

Goma is a city of about one million inhabitants located on the north shore of Lake Kivu, near the Rwandan city of Gisenyi.

It has a port connecting Bukavu, DRC city, to the province of South Kivu, as well as an airport serving the capital Kinshasa, Entebbe (Uganda) and Addis Ababa (capital of Ethiopia).

Border temperature control

At the Goma-Gisenyi crossing on Wednesday, megaphone announcements ordered all travelers to wash their hands "to prevent the virus from Ebola", using pools of water plus water. ;bleach.

A patient with Ebola and reaching the city of Goma in the DRC has been termed a "potential gambling changer". By Simon MALFATTO (AFP)

Health workers wearing high-visibility yellow jackets were taking the temperature of people crossing the border in both directions.

The announcement of the WHO prompted a mixed reaction from DR Congo's Minister of Health, Oly Ilunga Kalenga, who criticized the motive invoked by some non-governmental organizations for collecting donations for the crisis.

He stated that he "accepted" the decision of the WHO, he hoped however that it was not "the result of pressure exerted by different groups (…) who wish to use this declaration as an opportunity to raise funds for humanitarian actors ".

"We hope that humanitarian actors will enhance their transparency and accountability for how they use their funds to cope with this Ebola outbreak," he said in a statement.

The WHO International Health Regulations, drafted in 2005, stipulate that the emergency label must apply to a situation that constitutes "an extraordinary event that poses a risk to public health". other countries because of its international spread and which potentially requires a coordinated international response ".

Some fear that the emergency call will trigger the closing of borders, which the chairman of the WHO Emergency Committee, Robert Steffen, has urged.

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