July 18, 2019

Anna Murray 

On July 17, the World Health Organization finally declared that the deadly Ebola in eastern Congo had become a "public health emergency of international concern" but the virus had killed more than 1,600 Congo people. The slow response of the WHO has been badly blamed for. Still the WHO hopes to take the economies of the neighboring countries into consideration.

This is the fifth time that the WHO sounds the PHEIC emergency call. The previous cases were the H1N1 influenza epidemic worldwide in 2009, a paralyzing form of polio in Pakistan and Syria in May 2014, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa from August 2014 to 2016 and the Zika epidemic in Brazil in February 2016.

There is vaccine which is 99% effective, but only some are vaccinated. With the increasing rate of infections these days and the unreported cases, health workers are worried about the difficulty of controlling the spread of the virus.

Other reasons why the outbreak is out of control are the conflict in the region and distrust of healthcare workers. It is reported that healthcare workers or Ebola treatment facilities have been attacked 198 times since January, leading to seven deaths and 58 injuries. The inhabitants there would spread the virus to family or friends rather than seek a specialist’s treatment.

The WTO is worried about the spread of the disease: two cases in Uganda, a case in Goma City with more than a million people. Therefore, the neighboring Rwanda is also in danger. By the way, the WHO is in short of $54m to deal with the problem.

Photo:Webshot.