Germany boosts support for tackling DR Congo Ebola outbreak - DW (English)

-

Germany, Japan and Australia have increased their support against an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The three countries will provide an additional $20 million (€17.6 million) to the World Health Organization and the UN children's fund UNICEF. Half the sum will be used for an emergency response to the deadly haemorrhagic virus.

Read more: Top ten most dangerous viruses in the world

"The world community has learned from the last Ebola epidemic in West Africa. We need to act swiftly and effectively against this devastating disease," German Development Minister Gerd Müller said on Saturday.

In 2014 and 2015, an Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people.  The outbreak was contained following a sustained international response.

Difficult to contain

Since August, about 800 people have been infected and nearly 500 died from Ebola in the conflict-wracked North Kivu region which borders Uganda and Rwanda.

Some 80,000 people, including thousands of health and frontline workers, have been given an experimental Ebola vaccine.

Health and frontline workers have received Ebola vaccinations (Getty Images/AFP/J.D. Kannah)

Thousands of health and frontline workers have received Ebola vaccinations

Earlier this week, Congo's Healthy Ministry declared that there had been "major progress" in containing the outbreak in the badly affected town of Beni.

But on Friday it announced the first new infection there in 23 days. Beni is still at risk from the neighboring areas of Katwa and Butembo, where dozens of new cases have emerged this month.

An epidemic is considered over when a country has not recorded any new case for 42 consecutive days.

The response to the Ebola outbreak has been hampered by insecurity in a region with a plethora of rebel groups, fear and mistrust in communities and false rumors about the virus.

Germany one of largest donors

Germany is one of the biggest donor countries, providing €75 million ($85 million) over five years to the World Bank's Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility. It also one of the largest government donors for the vaccine alliance GAVI, which provides vaccines against Ebola in the Congo.

cw/jm (AFP, dpa, KNA)

Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.



https://ift.tt/2GHKLcZ

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Azar calls for transparency in Ebola-like death in Tanzania | TheHill - The Hill

-
Image
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Monday called for transparency from Tanzanian officials in the case of a patient who recently died after suffering Ebola-like symptoms, The Associated Press  reported . Azar told reporters in Uganda that he and others are “very concerned” and urged Tanzania’s government to share lab results related to the case. ADVERTISEMENT Congo, which borders Tanzania, is in the midst of the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, with confirmed cases now exceeding 3,000. Azar said efforts were underway to secure Tanzania’s compliance with international health regulations and obligations to the World Health Organization (WHO) “to protect Tanzanians as well as all people in the region," according to the AP. Tanzania’s government said Saturday there is no confirmed case of Ebola inside its borders. According to an internal WHO document obtained by AP, the patient, a 34-year-old woman, died on Sept. 8 and was bu...
Read more

A Russian lab containing smallpox and Ebola exploded - Vox.com

-
Image
Russia’s State Research Center of Virology, in the city of Koltsovo in Siberia, has one of the largest collections of dangerous viruses anywhere in the world. During the Cold War, the lab developed biological weapons and defenses against them, and it reportedly stored dangerous strains of smallpox, anthrax, and Ebola among other viruses. So lots of people were concerned when an explosion ripped through the facility on Monday. According to Russian independent media , the laboratory was undergoing repairs when a gas bottle exploded, sparking a 30-square-meter fire that left one worker severely burned. Glass throughout the building was reportedly destroyed in the blast, and the fire reportedly spread through the building’s ventilation system . The lab is one of only two in the world known to still have samples of smallpox, which was eradicated from the wild in 1977. The other is in the United States . Experts say that under certain circumstances, an explosion could lead to the releas...
Read more

Distinguishing viruses responsible for influenza-like illness

-
Image
bird flu 2021 :: Article Creator Bird Flu Pandemic Preparedness Activities Are Not Evidence Of A Conspiracy Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino. Flu viruses have a long history of making animals and humans sick. This includes a track record of causing pandemics, which can occur when unfamiliar viruses begin to spread widely among humans. Recently, a type of bird flu — called H5N1 — has been spreading among poultry, dairy cows and wild animals in the U.S. And infecting some farmworkers, adding to existing concerns about the virus's pandemic potential. The U.S. Government, in collaboration with others around the world, has a history of flu pandemic preparedness activities, including monitoring the flu viruses circulating in people and certain animals and stockpiling relevant vaccines and antivirals. These activities are meant to ensure scientists spot any concerning changes to flu viruses' genetics or circulati...
Read more