Africa CDC Urges Global Support As Nigeria Confirms Ebola Case
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 21 (NNN-Xinhua) -- The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for greater global solidarity and international support to contain the rapidly spreading Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, reported Xinhua.
The appeal came as Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case in the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday following laboratory tests.
According to Health and Social Welfare Coordinating Minister Ali Pate, a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda is in isolation and receiving medical care as authorities work to prevent community transmission.
Nigeria became the fourth African country to report a confirmed case linked to the outbreak, which began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and has since spread to other countries.
“We cannot allow this outbreak to spread to more countries or continue for another year,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said in a statement issued late Tuesday.
He described it as the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history.
Kaseya said the African Union’s specialised continental public health agency had begun mobilising support for Nigeria, while stepping up its response in the DRC and Kenya and maintaining heightened vigilance in Uganda.
“Every day of delay costs lives. Africa’s health security is global health security. Stopping Ebola in Africa today means protecting the world. Nigeria has our full solidarity. Together, we must defeat this outbreak,” he added.
Africa CDC warned of the outbreak’s regional implications when it was declared a public health emergency of continental security in May, Kaseya said, stressing that “with mortality approaching 50 per cent in DRC, we face an extremely serious threat”.
“My appeal to the international community is urgent: act now. We need immediate, flexible financing, medical supplies, diagnostics, trained responders and stronger community-based surveillance,” Kaseya said.
--NNN-XINHUA
