WHO / EBOLA EMERGENCY COMMITTEE
18-Oct-2019
00:02:43
“The current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern,” concluded the Emergency Committee on Ebola outbreak the Democratic Republic of the Congo after meeting in Geneva on Friday. WHO
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STORY: WHO / EBOLA EMERGENCY COMMITTEE
TRT: 2:43
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 18 OCTOBER 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
TRT: 2:43
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 18 OCTOBER 2019, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1. Various shots, exterior, WHO Headquarters
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization:
“The emergency committee has recommended that the current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
4. Wide shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization:
“So far, we have received half of the money needed to maintain response efforts to this outbreak. That puts health security across the globe at risk. In addition, funding for preparedness in surrounding countries is grossly inadequate. This is dangerously short-sighted and frankly, difficult to understand. If we fail to prepare, we're preparing to fail, we must fix the roof before the rain comes.”
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Robert Steffen, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland:
“The Ebola Emergency Committee recommended that the PHEIC be maintained, the public health emergency of international concern, because the battle is not over yet. As it was alluded to, we must remain cautious there might be setbacks. And for me, this outbreak is like a marathon and the last mile is always the most difficult.”
8. Wide shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“If we continue to drive as well as we have over the last two to three months and if we continue to chase the virus and get ahead of the virus, then I believe the outbreak will come to an end. It will come to an end 42 days after the last confirmed case, so let's try and push towards that.”
10. Various shots, emergency committee in meeting
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization:
“The emergency committee has recommended that the current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
4. Wide shot, press room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization:
“So far, we have received half of the money needed to maintain response efforts to this outbreak. That puts health security across the globe at risk. In addition, funding for preparedness in surrounding countries is grossly inadequate. This is dangerously short-sighted and frankly, difficult to understand. If we fail to prepare, we're preparing to fail, we must fix the roof before the rain comes.”
6. Wide shot, press room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Robert Steffen, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland:
“The Ebola Emergency Committee recommended that the PHEIC be maintained, the public health emergency of international concern, because the battle is not over yet. As it was alluded to, we must remain cautious there might be setbacks. And for me, this outbreak is like a marathon and the last mile is always the most difficult.”
8. Wide shot, press room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“If we continue to drive as well as we have over the last two to three months and if we continue to chase the virus and get ahead of the virus, then I believe the outbreak will come to an end. It will come to an end 42 days after the last confirmed case, so let's try and push towards that.”
10. Various shots, emergency committee in meeting
STORYLINE
“The current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern,” concluded the Emergency Committee on Ebola outbreak the Democratic Republic of the Congo after meeting in Geneva on Friday (18 Oct).
The meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus to review the current Ebola virus disease outbreak in the DRC. After the meeting, Dr Tedros told to reporters: “The emergency committee has recommended that the current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
Representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Uganda, the UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator and the WHO Secretariat made a presentation during the meeting.
According to WHO, while the Committee commended the efforts made by the neighbouring countries to strengthen preparedness, it remained deeply concerned by the lack of sustained financial support for these activities.
Tedros said “so far, we have received half of the money needed to maintain response efforts to this outbreak that puts health security across the globe at risk. In addition, funding for preparedness in surrounding countries is grossly inadequate. This is dangerously short sighted and frankly difficult to understand. If we fail to prepare, we're preparing to fail, we must fix the roof before the rain comes.”
As of 13 October 2019, a total of 3228 cases were reported, of which 3114 confirmed and 114 probable cases, of which 2123 deaths (case fatality rate 66%). In the 21 days from 23 September to 13 October, the number of affected health areas has reduced, with 22 health areas and 10 health zones reporting new cases, predominated by Mandima, Mambasa and Kalunguta. The epidemic is currently concentrated in the Mandima health zone in the Biakato Mine health area.
The Committee provided the following advice to the Director-General for his issuance as revised Temporary Recommendation:
For affected countries:
• Sustain the political commitment and multisectoral coordination approach to the response and expand this commitment to local areas and hot spots of the outbreak.
• Further enhance the acceptance, access and security situation to provide an enabling environment for all response partners to support public health operations as an essential platform for accelerating disease-control efforts.
• Continue to strengthen strategy, capacity, implementation, and coordination for community awareness and engagement, in particular in and around the current hot spots.
• Continue cross-border screening and screening at main internal roads, with a particular focus on routes connected to areas with current transmission.
• Accelerate comprehensive action for active surveillance for cases and unexplained deaths in all areas, with specific focus to detect all chains of transmission in hot spot areas and continue to implement real-time genetic sequencing of all new confirmed cases.
• Continue to implement optimal vaccine strategies that have proven maximum impact on curtailing the outbreak, as recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE).
• Strengthen measures to prevent nosocomial infections, including systematic mapping of health facilities, targeting of IPC interventions and sustain support to those facilities through monitoring and sustained supervision.
• Strengthen preparedness in non-affected provinces of DRC, and more generally strengthen health system across the country to respond to concurrent health emergencies, such as the current measles outbreak.
For countries at-risk:
• At-risk countries should work urgently with partners to improve their preparedness for detecting and managing imported or locally-acquired cases, including the transparent sharing of detailed information on suspect cases, as required by the International Health Regulations (2005), and sharing laboratory samples of suspect cases for confirmatory testing in accordance with WHO norms and guidance.
• Countries should continue to map population movements and sociological patterns that can predict risk of disease spread.
• Risk communications and community engagement, especially at points of entry, should be increased.
• At-risk countries should continue to put in place approvals for investigational medicines and vaccines as an immediate priority for preparedness.
For all States:
• No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science. They push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease. Most critically, these restrictions can also compromise local economies and negatively affect response operations from a security and logistics perspective.
• National authorities should work with airlines and other transport and tourism industries to ensure that they do not exceed WHO’s advice on international traffic.
• The Committee does not consider entry screening at airports or other ports of entry outside the region to be necessary.
The meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus to review the current Ebola virus disease outbreak in the DRC. After the meeting, Dr Tedros told to reporters: “The emergency committee has recommended that the current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.”
Representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Uganda, the UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator and the WHO Secretariat made a presentation during the meeting.
According to WHO, while the Committee commended the efforts made by the neighbouring countries to strengthen preparedness, it remained deeply concerned by the lack of sustained financial support for these activities.
Tedros said “so far, we have received half of the money needed to maintain response efforts to this outbreak that puts health security across the globe at risk. In addition, funding for preparedness in surrounding countries is grossly inadequate. This is dangerously short sighted and frankly difficult to understand. If we fail to prepare, we're preparing to fail, we must fix the roof before the rain comes.”
As of 13 October 2019, a total of 3228 cases were reported, of which 3114 confirmed and 114 probable cases, of which 2123 deaths (case fatality rate 66%). In the 21 days from 23 September to 13 October, the number of affected health areas has reduced, with 22 health areas and 10 health zones reporting new cases, predominated by Mandima, Mambasa and Kalunguta. The epidemic is currently concentrated in the Mandima health zone in the Biakato Mine health area.
The Committee provided the following advice to the Director-General for his issuance as revised Temporary Recommendation:
For affected countries:
• Sustain the political commitment and multisectoral coordination approach to the response and expand this commitment to local areas and hot spots of the outbreak.
• Further enhance the acceptance, access and security situation to provide an enabling environment for all response partners to support public health operations as an essential platform for accelerating disease-control efforts.
• Continue to strengthen strategy, capacity, implementation, and coordination for community awareness and engagement, in particular in and around the current hot spots.
• Continue cross-border screening and screening at main internal roads, with a particular focus on routes connected to areas with current transmission.
• Accelerate comprehensive action for active surveillance for cases and unexplained deaths in all areas, with specific focus to detect all chains of transmission in hot spot areas and continue to implement real-time genetic sequencing of all new confirmed cases.
• Continue to implement optimal vaccine strategies that have proven maximum impact on curtailing the outbreak, as recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE).
• Strengthen measures to prevent nosocomial infections, including systematic mapping of health facilities, targeting of IPC interventions and sustain support to those facilities through monitoring and sustained supervision.
• Strengthen preparedness in non-affected provinces of DRC, and more generally strengthen health system across the country to respond to concurrent health emergencies, such as the current measles outbreak.
For countries at-risk:
• At-risk countries should work urgently with partners to improve their preparedness for detecting and managing imported or locally-acquired cases, including the transparent sharing of detailed information on suspect cases, as required by the International Health Regulations (2005), and sharing laboratory samples of suspect cases for confirmatory testing in accordance with WHO norms and guidance.
• Countries should continue to map population movements and sociological patterns that can predict risk of disease spread.
• Risk communications and community engagement, especially at points of entry, should be increased.
• At-risk countries should continue to put in place approvals for investigational medicines and vaccines as an immediate priority for preparedness.
For all States:
• No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science. They push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease. Most critically, these restrictions can also compromise local economies and negatively affect response operations from a security and logistics perspective.
• National authorities should work with airlines and other transport and tourism industries to ensure that they do not exceed WHO’s advice on international traffic.
• The Committee does not consider entry screening at airports or other ports of entry outside the region to be necessary.
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