The Director General of the World Health Organization today decided that the smoldering Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should remain a “public health emergency of international concern,” following recommendations from a committee of experts convened under the International Health Regulations. The last embers of the 1.5 year long outbreak appeared to […] Continue reading ->
The mysterious new pneumonia coronavirus that has emerged in Wuhan, China may also be transmitted between people, health experts in China and Geneva now suspect. Officials are concerned that the outbreak may also spread globally as a new exported cases of the novel virus were confirmed in Thailand on Friday and Japan on Thursday, and […] Continue reading ->
With the death toll from the world’s worst measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) now exceeding 6000, the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed to donors on Tuesday for $US 40 million more in funding to stop the advance of the disease – which has killed nearly three times as many people […] Continue reading ->
The number of new Ebola virus cases in the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shot up to 27 confirmed cases in the last week, triple the number of 9 confirmed cases reported between 27 November to 3 December. The recent surge in cases comes in the wake of insecurity and a […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance approved on Thursday an investment of US$178 million over the next five years to establish a global stockpile of 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccines that have been “pre-qualified” by the World Health Organization – WHO’s quality seal of approval that also makes vaccines and drugs eligible for preferential terms of purchase […] Continue reading ->
WHO and its partners have evacuated Ebola response workers in the Biakato Mines Area of the Democratic Republic of Congo following two deadly attacks on Wednesday night that left 4 Congolese staff dead, and 6 staff wounded – including a WHO staff member. The scale back of the Ebola response raises the possibility of a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has “pre-qualified” a new Ebola vaccine in record time, just a day after the vaccine, Ervebo, received European regulatory approval. “This is the fastest vaccine prequalification process ever conducted by WHO,” said the organization in press release Tuesday evening. The WHO approval was described as a “critical step that will help […] Continue reading ->
The number of Ebola cases per week has plateaued at a low, but consistent, count of 19 per week in the past 21 days, but the violent death of a radio journalist who had won acclaim for his Ebola outreach work has responders remaining vigilant. One Ebola case was also detected this week at a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization is not yet ready to declare that the Ebola public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo is over – despite significant recent declines in the pace of new infections. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that he did not find it prudent to end the “Public […] Continue reading ->
The risk of future Ebola outbreaks could be greatly reduced by more aggressive climate mitigation measures along with rapid progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications. Led by researchers at University College London, the article is the first study to examine the potential effects of global warming […] Continue reading ->