Killing at least 1,600 with no end in sight in the Congo, the deadly Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever [EHF] virus has begun to spread to Uganda and Rwanda. U.N.’s World Health Organization [WHO] declared today an “international state of emergency” primarily to galvanize a worldwide effort to eradicate the virus. When Ebola struck West Africa between 2013 and 2016 it killed 11,323, with a mortality rate of about 25%-90%, leaving it one of the world’s worst modern plagues. WHO wants a concerted effort especially the United States and European Union [EU] to properly vaccinate and treat victims before it spreads to pandemic proportions. Wracked by civil war, the Democratic Republic of the Congo faces another mass killing unless WHO with help from the U.S. and EU can commit considerable resources to the Congo. WHO acted when the virus spread to the Rwanda border.
When an Ebola-infected merchant traveled to Uganda, he brought with him the Ebola virus before he expired from the disease. Announcing the global emergency in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus asked the world community to get more actively involved in fighting the virus. Ghebreyesus said the WHO’s declaration was not designed to raise money but to galvanize a worldwide effort to fight the virus. With already 1,600 confirmed deaths, he doesn’t want it to turn into the epidemic that hit West Africa in 2013-2016. WHO’s declaration “should not be used to stigmatize or penalize the very people who are most in need of our help,” said Ghebreyesus. Once WHO declares a health care emergency it kills travel to the region, whether or not it was the unintended consequence. Health scares, like deadly virus outbreaks, frighten otherwise adventurous health care workers.
Ebola virus, if left unchecked by vaccinations and treatment, can spread quickly like in did in West Africa. With the virus spreading south of Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, WHO had to act to prevent another humanitarian crisis. “The reality check is that a year into the epidemic, it’s still no under control, and we’re not where we should be,” said Dr. Joanne Liu, President of Doctors Without Borders. Liu hopes better vaccination strategies should help stem the spread of the disease. U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID] said it would “continue to scale up the life-saving support” to help control the outbreak in Congo. Today’s declaration was the 5th for WHO that’s declared emergencies for Ebola, Swine Flu, Zika and polio. Labeling an epidemic a global emergency, WHO calls it an “extraordinary event,” something designed to get worldwide attention.
Georgetown University global health expert Alexandra Phelan said WHO’s declaration was long overdue. “This essentially serve as a call to the international community that hey have to step up appropriate financial and technical support,” warning that it wouldn’t stop inter-country trading from getting exposed to the virus. Phelan urges other countries to curtail business dealings with the Congo until the epidemic can be brought under control. WHO’s declaration “would actually restrict the flow of goods and health care workers into the affected countries so they are counter-productive.,” Phelan said. Phelan thinks declarations actually discourages other countries from supplying the necessary resources and personnel into the affected areas. WHO’s response in 2013-2016 delayed an aggressive vaccination and treatment strategy in West Africa, causing deaths of more than 1,000 people.
WHO’s emergency committee plans to meet in three months to reassess global efforts to contain the latest Ebola outbreak. Business people are concerned that Congo could close its border to Uganda and Rwanda, preventing access to the region. “Closing the border would handicap our economy. The health ministry and WHO need to end this epidemic as soon as possible,” said 46-year-old shoe broker Zoe Kibwana who said he was vaccinated for Ebola. Spreading Ebola to Congo’s restive border regions replete with various rebel groups, like al-Qaeda’s Boko Haram, complicates the picture because no health care worker can feel safe in the area. “We accept the decision of the committee of experts but one hopes that it’s a decision that wasn’t made under pressure of certain groups that want to use this as a way to raise funds for certain humanitarian actors,” said Congo Health Minister Dr. Oly Ilunga
Politics of health epidemics make WHO’s work all the more difficult, dealing with government bureaucrats who don’t want their country stigmatized. Burying his head in the sand, Ilunga doesn’t get the magnitude of the Ebola outbreak now plaguing the Congo. WHO’s declaration seeks only to get the Congo more systematic vaccinations and treatments to set down the outbreak. Health care workers, like Dr. Maurice Kakule, was already infected with the Ebola virus, but, thanks to new treatments, survived the virus. “What is clear is that Ebola is an emergency because the epidemic persists despite every possible effort to educate people,” Kalule said in Geneva. Instead of worrying about Ebola’s effect on Congo’s economy, the government should implement WHO’s recommendations when it comes to new vaccines and treatments, stopping the virus before it’s too late.
