Tanzania to issue official statement following Ebola reports in Congo
Ebola virus
What you need to know:
- The government of the United Republic of Tanzania said on Wednesday May 9 said it would issue a statement following the reports.
Dar es Salaam. There are cross border interactions between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo where an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was declared yesterday.
The government of the United Republic of Tanzania on Wednesday May 9 said it would issue a statement following the reports.
Laboratory results confirmed two cases of EVD, forcing the Government of the DRC to declare a new outbreak of the disease in Bikoro in Equateur Province on May 8.
It is the DRC's ninth known outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the deadly viral disease was first identified in then-Zaire by a Belgian-led team.
Tanzania’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Mohammed Bakari told The Citizen on Wednesday, May 09, 2018, that the government would issue a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic diseases such as Marburg can spread through borders.
Read: Government calls on people to be alert on Ebola
Last year, Tanzania won accolades for taking the lead in putting up strategies to curb global health emergencies such as Ebola.
That was after the country launched the National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) on September 8, 2016 in Dodoma.
According to the Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms UmmyMwalumu Tanzania volunteered to be the first country to undergo self- evaluation followed by Joint External Evaluation of its capacity in responding to global health epidemics.
“Following the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, the World Health Assembly adopted a revised method of assessment of country's core capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to health emergencies under the International Health Regulations of 2005,’’ said Ms Mwalimu when she was commenting on the accolades given to Tanzania last year.
The Ministry of Health of Democratic of the Congo (DRC) informed WHO that two out of five samples collected from five patients tested positive for EVD at the Institut National de RechercheBiomédicale (INRB) in Kinshasa. More specimens are being collected for testing.
WHO said in a statement posted on its Africa website that it was working closely with the Government of the DRC to rapidly scale up its operations and mobilize health partners using the model of a successful response to a similar EVD outbreak in 2017.
In the past five weeks, there have been 21 suspected viral haemorrhagic fever in and around the iIkoko Iponge, including 17 deaths.
