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Tag: Ebola

  • Ebola: FCTA adopts preventive measures

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration ( FCTA ) says it has taken proactive measures to create public awareness on prevention of Ebola disease.

    The Director of Public Health in the Health and Human Services Secretariat, FCTA, Dr Humphrey Okoroukwu, said this in Abuja today.

    Okoroukwu explained that there was no Ebola in Nigeria but the outbreak of the disease had occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and won’t wait until there was a case in Nigeria before taking necessary actions.

    Ebola has claimed 27 lives since it was reported in DR Congo and WHO had warned that the 2018 outbreak has been complicated because it involves rural and urban areas which could raise chances of spread both nationally and internationally.

    The director said that his department had inaugurated the Public Emergency Centre and had trained relevant officers on how to manage emergency cases.

    Read Also: Ebola: 17 people die in Congo – Officials

    He disclosed that Core Disease Surveillance Officers were being trained currently to equip them with necessary knowledge on emergency cases such as Ebola.

    Okoroukwu stated that his department would soon commence facility based clinical sensitization to educate health workers on universal precautions against Ebola.

    “FCT is a capital of the country that hosts different persons from various parts of the country and the world, that’s why we need to be more proactive.

    “We have started public awareness campaigns to reawaken people’s consciousness and we are doing that carefully in order not to create panic.

    “Next week, we shall commence the training of our Disease Surveillance officers from the six area councils of the FCT with the support of WHO,” he said.

    The director noted that handbills and posters concerning Ebola have been printed for distribution to hospitals and health centres in FCT to raise public awareness.

    Okoroukwu urged residents of FCT and Nigerians to imbibe culture of cleanliness by ensuring regular hand washing and desist from eating of monkeys.

    He said that Ebola was a deadly virus which spreads fast and kills quickly, but could be prevented.

  • Three Ebola patients slip out of Congo hospital

    Three patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus slipped out of an isolation ward at a hospital in the Congolese city of Mbandaka, an aid group said on Wednesday.

    Two patients left the hospital on Monday, said Henry Gray, head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) mission in the city, before being located the following day.

    The World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative in Congo, Yokouide Allarangar, said one was found dead and another was sent back to hospital and died shortly afterwards.

    Allarangar, speaking to journalists in the capital Kinshasa, said the two patients had left the hospital with the help of family members before heading to a “place of prayer.”

    Read Also: WHO raises Ebola risk to ‘very high’

    Health Ministry sources, who asked not to be named, said two police officers had been deployed to help track them down.

    Another patient left on Saturday, but was found alive the same day and is under observation, one of the sources told Reuters.

     

     

  • New Ebola deaths recorded in Congo – health ministry

    Two new deaths from Ebola and seven new confirmed cases have been recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

    One of the deaths occurred in the provincial capital of Mbandaka, according to a daily bulletin. A nurse also died in the village of Bikoro, where the outbreak was first detected, ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga told Reuters.

    The seven new confirmed cases were registered in Bikoro, the ministry said.

    Health officials administered an experimental vaccine on Monday to 33 medical workers and Mbandaka residents, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

    The vaccine manufacturer Merck has provided WHO with 8,640 doses of the vaccine and an additional 8,000 doses are expected to be available in the coming days, WHO said.

    Congo’s ninth outbreak of Ebola since 1976 is believed to have killed at least 28 people so far.

    Officials are particularly concerned by its appearance in Mbandaka, a crowded trading hub on the Congo River with road, water and air links to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.

    NAN reports that the WHO said it will need 26 million dollars for the Ebola Response in the DRC over the next three months.

    WHO said it had also released two million dollars from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, to scale up the Ebola response.

    Read Also: Ebola outbreak spreads to DR Congo city

    The Government of DRC, with the support of WHO partners, is preparing to vaccinate high risk populations against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in affected health zones.

    The organisation said health workers operating in affected areas were being vaccinated on Monday and community outreach had started to prepare for the ring vaccination.

    More than 7,500 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine have been deployed to DRC to conduct vaccination in the northwestern Equator Province where 46 suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases and 26 deaths have been reported – as of Friday.

  • Two new Ebola deaths recorded in Congo

    Two new deaths from Ebola and seven new confirmed cases have been recorded in Democratic Republic of Congo, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

    One of the deaths occurred in the provincial capital of Mbandaka, according to a daily bulletin. A nurse also died in the village of Bikoro, where the outbreak was first detected, ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga told Reuters.

    The seven new confirmed cases were registered in Bikoro, the ministry said.

    Health officials administered an experimental vaccine on Monday to 33 medical workers and Mbandaka residents, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

    The vaccine manufacturer Merck has provided WHO with 8,640 doses of the vaccine and an additional 8,000 doses are expected to be available in the coming days, WHO said.

    Read Also: DR Congo players to be screened for Ebola – Dalung

    Congo’s ninth outbreak of Ebola since 1976 is believed to have killed at least 28 people so far.

    Officials are particularly concerned by its appearance in Mbandaka, a crowded trading hub on the Congo River with road, water and air links to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.

    NAN reports that the WHO said it will need 26 million dollars for the Ebola Response in the DRC over the next three months.

    WHO said it had also released two million dollars from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, to scale up the Ebola response.

    The Government of DRC, with the support of WHO partners, is preparing to vaccinate high risk populations against Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in affected health zones.

    The organisation said health workers operating in affected areas were being vaccinated on Monday and community outreach had started to prepare for the ring vaccination.

    More than 7,500 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine have been deployed to DRC to conduct vaccination in the northwestern Equator Province where 46 suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases and 26 deaths have been reported – as of Friday.

  • WHO General Assembly opens with call for urgent actions

    The 71st General Assembly of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) was declared opened in Geneva, Switzerland with the Director-General of the organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Gbebreyesus calling for a shared sense of purpose in tackling the world’s health challenges.

    In his keynote address, Gbereyesus said there is no commodity in the world more precious than health and as such, an organization charged with defending the health of 7 billion people bears great responsibility and must be held to high standards.

    Citing the camp for internally displaced persons in Nigeria and the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo; the DG called for a sense of urgency in tackling world health problems since every moment lost is a matter of life and death.

    Praising the commitment of WHO staff and health workers who risk their lives to serve others, Dr Gbereyesus pointed at the establishment of a High-Level Commission on Non-communicable Diseases as part of the means to stop the premature and preventable deaths of millions of people. Other initiatives established in the last one year under Gbereyesus, who made history as the first African to head the organization, include an initiative on climate change in small island developing states, the Global Fund and civil society initiative to treat all 4 million people globally who are infected with tuberculosis and an aggressive new initiative to jump-start progress against malaria.

    Describing malaria as an entirely treatable disease which kills half a million people every year, he listed other objectives geared towards promoting health and keeping the world safe to include the drive for the elimination of cervical cancer and a new initiative to eliminate trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023.

    Read Also: WHO raises Ebola risk to ‘very high’

    While disclosing that the WHO had in the past one year responded to 50 emergencies in 47 countries, including Nigeria, he announced the establishment of the Global Preparedness Monitoring (GPW) Board, an independent initiative convened by WHO and the World Bank to monitor system-wide preparedness for emergencies.

    “Too much is at stake for us to be modest. we will not settle for a world in which there is a 33-year difference in life expectancy between some countries.

    “We will not settle for a world in which people get sick because the air they breathe is not fit for human consumption. We will not settle for a world in which people have to choose between sickness and poverty because of the costs of paying for care out of their own pockets. That is what our new GPW is all about,” he submitted.

    He hinted on the transformation plans to make WHO more efficient by streamlining practices that lead to wastage as well as ensuring gender balance and greater geographical diversity throughout WHO.

    President Paul Kagame, Chairperson of the African Union and President of Rwanda, was the guest speaker at the assembly which boasts of about 4000 delegates from WHO’s 194 Member States and partner organizations. The Assembly is WHO’s highest decision-making body, setting out the Organization’s policy and approving its budget

  • DR Congo players to be screened for Ebola – Dalung

    The Minister of Youth and Sports,  Solomon Dalung, said on Monday players of the Democratic Republic of Congo National Team, the Leopards, would be screened for Ebola virus before playing the Super Eagles in next week pre-World Cup friendly in Port Harcourt.

    At least 15 people have been killed in the recent outbreak of Ebola in the giant Central African nation.

    Speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Dalung said the outbreak of the disease would not stop the friendly match.

    He said Congolese would be screened before leaving their country and in Nigeria.

    He said any player that refuses to come to Nigeria through the flight would not be allowed to play the match.

    He said: “Nigeria is going to play the friendly with DRC. I have discussed with the Federal Ministry of Health with the World Health Organization on the matter. We have reviewed the situation and received adequate information about it.

    “So we have agreed on major approaches. One, the DRC team is coming through a chartered flight and those coming for the match will be using that chartered flight and they would have been screened from the DRC and here in Nigeria.

    “No any other person is going to be admitted using any other means of transportation for the match. We also discovered that the Ebola outbreak is limited to a particular place and it has not escalated.

    “So we wouldn’t want to run the risk of setting a precedent which we will later be a victim. Based on that we only introduced strict policies to ensure that the match takes place.”

  • Lagos reactivates Ebola isolation centre

    The Lagos State government has intensified its awareness campaign to forestall the outbreak of Ebola disease in the nation’s commercial nerve centre.

    Commissioner of Health Dr Jide Idris told reporters that though there were no suspected or confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria, it was important people were informed in order to protect lives.

    Lagos and Federal Government, he said, were taking measures to prevent the entry and spread of the virus in the country.

    “Factsheets of Ebola for health workers have been sent to various hospitals, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), all the general hospitals, primary healthcare board, the Health Service Commission, and chairmen of association of general and private medical practitioners, Association of Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Nursing and Midwifery Association of Nigeria; and very soon they will also be sent to the morgue operators. The state and the local governments’ Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) have been sensitised on Ebola and other viral haemorrhagic fevers, especially on the prompt reporting of any detected or suspected cases of Ebola by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO),” he said.

    He said his ministry collaborated with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the West African Health Organisation in March on a yellow fever outbreak simulation exercise. The essence, he said, was to strengthen the preparedness of response of all levels of health workers to yellow fever emergencies which have similar principles for the control of Ebola.

    “We are also actively collaborating with the Port Health Services and the Federal Ministry of Health, which has commenced regional screening of passengers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the neighbouring countries for any suspected cases of Ebola virus or other viral haemorrhagic fevers. Embargo has also been placed on the transportation of corpse from the DRC.

    “Our isolation centre at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba has also been reactivated for treatment of any suspected cases. And we have propositioned personal protective equipment and other facilities and other facilities in our public health facilities just as a measure of preparedness,” Idris said.

    He appealed to Lagosians to reduce the risk of infection by observing the basic standards of personal and environmental hygiene, such as, hand washing, avoiding close contact with the sick, touching or washing of bodies if not trained to do so, and ensuring that items used by the sick are decontaminated and disposed.

    Suspected cases, he said, should be reported to the nearest primary healthcare centre, the ministry or the nearest health workers.

  • Ebola: FG bans transportation of corpses from DR Congo

    No corpse from the Democratic Republic of Congo  (DRC) will be allowed into Nigeria for now following the latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in that  country.

    This is one of the precautionary measures being put in place by the federal government to check the spread of the virus to Nigeria,according to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris.

    Idris told reporters in Ikeja yesterday that  the state was collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that there was no outbreak of EVD in the country.

    “We are in collaboration with Port Health Services, Federal Ministry of Health with commencement of regional screening of passengers from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries for any suspected cases of EVD or other VHFs. Embargo has also been placed on transportation of corpses from DRC,” he said.

    He  said factsheets on Ebola for health workers had been sent to the CMD of LASUTH, Medical Directors of General Hospital; the Primary Health Board; Health Service Commission and the Chairman Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners, Association of Laboratory Scientist of Nigeria, Association of Nursing and Midwifery Association of Nigeria and Morgue operators.

    Besides, he said the State and LGA Disease Surveillance and Notification of Officers (DSNOs) have been sensitized on Ebola and other Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers, especially on prompt reporting of any detected suspected cases of Ebola and other VHFs by the Ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

  • WHO raises Ebola risk to ‘very high’

    The Ebola outbreak in Congo poses a greater danger to the Central African country and the region than previously assumed, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    The recent confirmation of a case in Mbandaka, a large city that straddles national and international transport routes, had increased the risk of the virus spreading further, the UN health agency said on Friday in Geneva.

    “WHO has, therefore, revised the assessment of public health risk to very high at the national level and high at the regional level,’’ it said in a statement.

    The global significance of this outbreak that has killed 14 people, so far is being discussed at a WHO emergency meeting and will be announced later on Friday.

    Read Also: Ebola outbreak spreads to DR Congo city

    The WHO has previously said that the chance of a global outbreak is low.

    In Congo, the Health Ministry announced that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country has risen from three to 14.

    “In total since the start of the epidemic, there have been 45 cases of haemorrhagic fever, including 10 suspected cases, 21 probable cases and 14 confirmed cases,’’ the ministry said late Thursday.

    While one person was confirmed dead from the virus, 25 people are suspected to have died from it, the ministry said.

    One of the most contagious viral diseases known, Ebola’s symptoms are extraordinarily painful and include severe vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, impaired kidney and liver function as well as internal and external bleeding.

    The UN and aid organisations are racing to prevent the recurrence of an outbreak like in 2014, when 11,000 people died in the West African epidemic that was centred in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

    The executive of the EU on Friday announced the release of 1.6 million euros (1.9 million dollars) to help tackle the outbreak, with most of the money going to the WHO to provide logistics support.

  • Congo, WHO race to prevent runaway Ebola outbreak

    Congolese and United Nations officials were racing on Thursday to prevent a runaway Ebola outbreak in Congo.

    They are working out the logistics of keeping newly a vaccines well below freezing in a steamy region on the equator with unreliable power.

    World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Christian Lindmeier said the U.N. body would convene an Emergency Committee meeting on Friday to consider the international risks.

    This is Democratic Republic of Congo’s ninth epidemic since the disease was identified in the 1970s.

    However, this outbreak I’d its most alarming because of the risk of transmission via regular river transport to the capital Kinshasa, a city of 10 million.

    There have already been 44 suspected, probable or confirmed cases of Ebola, and 23 people have died.

    Read Also:Ebola outbreak spreads to DR Congo city

    Potentially, most worrying is a confirmed case in Mbandaka, a city of about 1 million connected to Kinshasa by the Congo River.

    “This does change the way we need to respond,” Peter Salama, WHO’s medical emergency programme head told the media in Geneva.

    “Overnight, Mbandaka has become the number one priority for preventing this outbreak from getting out of control.”

    The other Ebola cases were spread across sites in remote areas where the disease might not travel quickly.

    An experimental but highly effective vaccine is being deployed, with health workers being vaccinated first.

    But it normally needs to be kept 80 degrees Celsius below freezing in a humid region where daytime temperatures hover around 30.

    “For now, the cold chain is guaranteed at – 80 degrees until Kinshasa,” Health Minister Oly Ilunga told Reuters.

    “There is a fridge that will be prepared (on Thursday) … in Mbandaka and that will be at -80.”

    “This vaccine is no longer experimental. The effectiveness has been proven and validated,” he added.

    “Now that we are facing the Ebola virus we must use all the resources we have.”

    WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told the media that the vaccine can still be effective for up to two weeks if stored in a fridge at between 8 and 2 degrees above freezing.

    To avoid criticism received during the huge former Ebola outbreak, which killed 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from 2014 to 2016, WHO is moving fast on Congo’s latest outbreak.

    The emergency committee will decide whether to declare a “public health emergency of international concern”, which would mean getting access to more resources, Lindmeier said.

    The Kinshasa government reported the outbreak on May 8, one day after two samples tested positive.

    Within days the WHO was sending experts, preparing a helicopter “air bridge” to the site, and planning a vaccination campaign.

    The nightmare scenario is an outbreak in Kinshasa, a crowded city where millions live in unsanitary slums not connected to a sewer system.

    Several public transport boats a day head from Mbandaka downstream over the river to the capital.

    They are so overloaded with people that they sometimes topple over, their toilets are usually filthy and water for washing absent.

    “If this Ebola outbreak ever reaches Kinshasa, what we are going to see is death here,” Jean Marie Mukaya, a resident of the city, told media.

    “Because it is very dirty here. The government and the population must … get rid of all the dirt.”

    Already the WHO has warned that there is a “moderate” regional risk because the disease could travel along the river to Central African Republic and Congo Republic.

    But it has said the global risk is low because of the remoteness of the area and the rapid response launched so far.

    Even if the logistics of the ‘fridge bridge’ prove easy enough to overcome, “the vaccine is not a magic bullet,” Salama told Reuters this week, especially since health workers have been infected.

    “Having healthcare workers infected is usually a ‘canary in the mine’ for potential amplification,” he said.