Germany commits additional $4m to WHO in fight against Ebola

BY LAWAL SHERIFAT

Germany, on Friday, committed additional money to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and African

Union (AU) as part of efforts at fighting Ebola outbreak in Congo, Health Minister, Jens Spahn says.
Spahn said at a meeting with WHO representatives in the eastern Congolese city of Goma that Germany was giving a further four million euros (or 4.4 million dollars) to the global health body.

Germany is already the largest contributor worldwide to the WHO’s Ebola fund, having given 33.6 million euros since 2015.

He said Germany would provide the AU with an additional one million euros.
Spahn, who was on a trip to the region, said the main challenge was the security situation in eastern Congo, adding that many people could not be reached right now.“

 Germany commits additional $4m to WHO in fight against Ebola

BY LAWAL SHERIFAT

Germany, on Friday, committed additional money to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and African Union (AU) as part of efforts at fighting Ebola outbreak in Congo, Health Minister, Jens Spahn says.
Spahn said at a meeting with WHO representatives in the eastern Congolese city of Goma that Germany was giving a further four million euros (or 4.4 million dollars) to the global health body.

Germany is already the largest contributor worldwide to the WHO’s Ebola fund, having given 33.6 million euros since 2015.

He said Germany would provide the AU with an additional one million euros.

Spahn, who was on a trip to the region, said the main challenge was the security situation in eastern Congo, adding that many people could not be reached right now.“

United States issues Tanzania travel advisory over suspected Ebola cases

TANZANIA

September 27,2019: US issues travel advisory

The United States on Friday warned its citizens to take extra care when visiting Tanzania amid concerns over Ebola, adding to calls for the East African country to share information about suspected cases of the deadly disease there.

U.S. travellers should “exercise increased caution”, the State Department said in an updated travel advisory that cited reports of “a probable Ebola-related death in Dar es Salaam”.

Days earlier, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention travelled to Tanzania at the direction of U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar, who had also criticised the country for not sharing information.

There is no Ebola outbreak in Tanzania as we speak, people should not panic.

Tanzania denies the reports, saying no cases of Ebola have been confirmed, but with transparency key to combating the deadly and fast-spreading haemorrhagic fever, the government is under mounting pressure to provide clarification.

The foreign affairs ministry was not immediately available on Saturday for comment on the U.S. advisory.

Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of Ebola from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a year-long outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people.

Tanzania and DRC share a border that is separated by a lake.

September 24,2019: WHO official summoned

Tanzania on Tuesday summoned the World Health Organization’s local representative, who over the weekend asserted that the government refused to share information on suspected Ebola cases.

Transparency and speed are key to combating the deadly hemorrhagic fever because it can spread rapidly. Anyone deemed to have been in contact with potentially infected people must be quarantined and the public warned to step up precautions such as handwashing.

Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi said on Twitter that WHO country representative Tigest Ketsela Mengestu was summoned by deputy foreign affairs minister Damas Ndumbaro, in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

“The representative insisted that the WHO has not declared that there is Ebola in Tanzania, nor does it have any evidence on that and pledged to cooperate with the government,” Abbasi said.

“During the talks, the WHO agreed to strictly follow guidelines outlined by the agency itself and ratified by the government if it wants to get any additional information from the Tanzanian government.”

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the agency had not received any information after it had requested Tanzanian authorities to assess potential risks from the recent incidences.

She ruled out any punitive action, and reiterated that WHO had advised against any travel or trade restrictions based on the present circumstances.

“What we need to do is to continue communicating with them and provide them with help and expertise. We cannot sanction a country. It is not our mandate,” Chaib said.

September 21,2019: Tanzania withheld information: WHO

WHO said late on Saturday it was made aware on Sept. 10 of the death of a patient in Dar es Salaam, and was unofficially told the next day that the person had tested positive for Ebola. The woman had died on Sept. 8.

In its weekend statement, WHO said it was unofficially told that Tanzania had two other possible Ebola cases. One had tested negative and there was no information on the other.

Officially, the Tanzanian government had said in the previous week it had no confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola. The government did not address the death of the woman directly and did not provide further information.

September 18,2019: WHO confirms Tanzania’s Ebola denial

Tanzania has refuted allegations of harbouring an Ebola case in the country, formally telling the World Health Organisation (WHO), it had conducted investigations on suspicious cases and ruled out the deadly virus.

“This followed earlier rumours of the death of one person and illness in a few others,” the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Tanzanian authorities did not indicate what the cause of the illnesses might have been.”

The WHO received the notification on Sept. 14, the statement said. It was unclear why it took four days to make it public.

Suspicions of Ebola

The suspicion of Ebola in Taanzania had been fuelled by a woman died there earlier this month from an unknown illness following Ebola-like symptoms.

The WHO announcement came a day after the head of a U.S. government health agency travelled to Tanzania at the direction of America’s health secretary, Alex Azar.

Azar criticized Tanzania earlier this week for not sharing information, saying on Monday he was aware of a death in Tanzania and that the government had reported two suspected cases who tested negative for Ebola.

“The government of Tanzania, however, has not made available the samples or the ability to test the index case of the individual who died, nor has it made available any other information,” Azar told reporters during a prearranged tour of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to evaluate their Ebola response, according to a transcript of his remarks.

He called on Tanzania to comply with international obligations to share information and allow independent verification of test results.

Tanzania comes clean

Tanzania’s health minister said on Saturday that the government had investigated two recent cases of unknown illnesses, but they were not Ebola.

“The two patients did not have Ebola,” Ummy Mwalimu told reporters. “There is no Ebola outbreak in Tanzania as we speak, people should not panic.”

She did not say if the two cases investigated included the death of the woman. The ministry did not answer calls on Wednesday.

There is increased vigilance across East Africa after an outbreak of Ebola in the DRC killed more than 2,000 people. It is the second-largest Ebola outbreak in global history.

Concern has focused on a woman who died on Sept. 8 in Dar es Salaam, after exhibiting symptoms common to several diseases, including Ebola. There was no indication the woman had travelled to an affected area or had contact with an infected person.

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No case of Ebola in Tanzania, says health minister

Dar es Salaam. The government of Tanzania said on Saturday September 14 that there has been no confirmed case of Ebola in the country.

This comes a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was investigating “as a matter of urgency” a ‘rumor’ of death from an unknown illness in Tanzania.

WHO said on Friday September 13 that it had deployed a technical team to the country to cooperate with the health ministry.

Speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam, the Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ms Ummy Mwalimu said there were romours about two cases of people who were believed to have contracted Ebola.

“We (as the ministry) took samples of those cases and I can confirm that they didn’t have Ebola,’’ said Ms Mwalimu, emphasizing that the only authority that can announce an outbreak of a disease such as Ebola is the country’s minister responsible for health.

The patient who died was buried by the authorities in Temeke, Dar es Salaam, unofficial reports indicate.

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Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum: The Congolese scientist behind the cure for Ebola

Written byNwachukwu Egbunike

Written byRosebell Kagumire

'We will no longer say that Ebola is not curable'

Sierra Leone: Health workers prepare to enter an area where Ebola patients get treatment. Flickr image by EC/ECHO/Cyprien Fabre, August 2, 2014. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

On August 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a positive development in the clinical trials of drugs being tested for the treatment of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR of Congo).

WHO asserted that the Ebola drugs showed “advances that will bring patients a better chance of survival,” and further affirmed that “two out of the four drugs being tested are more effective in treating Ebola.”

Who is the man behind the Ebola cure? Esteemed professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, director-general of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) DR of Congo, who invested a substantial part of his adult life treating the virus.

While the international media has often focused heavily on the deadly, contagious nature of Ebola in DR of Congo, less has been said about the Congolese scientist who discovered its cure.

Muyembe-Tamfum declared: “We will no longer say that EVD [Ebola virus disease] is not curable.”

Based on Muyembe-Tamfum's tireless work, scientists tested four drugs for Ebola treatment: ZMapp, remdesivir, mAb114 and REGN-EB3. The results from the clinical trials conducted in 499 study participants showed that patients treated with “REGN-EB3 or mAb114 had a greater chance of survival” when compared to those treated with the two other drugs.

The trials were conducted under the auspices of the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB), the DR Congo Ministry of Health and three medical humanitarian organizations: the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), the International Medical Corps (IMC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The Congolese scientist behind the Ebola treatment

Muyembe-Tamfum has been researching Ebola since its first known outbreak in DR of Congo in 1976 when he became the first researcher to travel to the area of the first outbreak.

Rosebell Kagumire @RosebellK

 · Aug 13, 2019

“I spent four decades of my life thinking how to treat patients with the Ebola virus. So this is the achievement of my life" - Dr Muyembe, who with his team of researchers, has discovered a new Ebola treatment that can cure symptoms in just an hour

https://www.

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0

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Focus on Africa - New Ebola treatment cures symptoms in just an hour - BBC Sounds

Top Ebola researcher Dr Muyembe says the new treatment can cure 90% of infections

bbc.co.uk

Rosebell Kagumire @RosebellK

Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale in the Democratic Republic of #Congo and his team have discovered a new Ebola treatment that can cure symptoms in just an hour

6:42 PM - Aug 13, 2019

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A professor of microbiology at Kinshasa University Medical School in DR of Congo, he has been working for the past 40 years on a cure for the disease. In 1995, he worked with WHO in implementing detection protocols and control measures in the first documented urban outbreak of Ebola in Kikwit, DR of Congo.

Professor Muyembe-Tamfum (seated with the microphone) speaking at a public education event in Beni, North Kivu, DR of Congo, in September 2018. Photo MONUSCO/Aqueel Khan (CC BY-SA 2.0)

With this discovery, people infected with Ebola will now have more trust in the possibility of recovery and will be more likely to go to the hospital for treatment.

“Now that 90 percent of their patients can go into the treatment center and come out completely cured, they will start believing it and building trust in the population and community.” — Jean-Jacque Muyembe-Tamfum

Why Ebola treatment matters

The first recorded cases of Ebola occurred in 1976 near the Ebola River in DR of Congo. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), since then, the Ebola virus has “emerged periodically from its natural reservoir (which remains unknown)” to infect people in Africa.

Ebola virus outbreaks since 1976. Map from the Centres of Disease Prevention and Control

Between 2014 and 2016 there were more than 28,600 recorded cases of Ebola within West Africa. According to a WHO 2015 report:

• In October 2014, Senegal had one case of Ebola infection and zero death.
• Nigeria recorded 20 cases with 8 deaths. WHO declared Nigeria's curtailment of the virus as a “piece of world-class epidemiological detective work“.
• In January 2015, Mali had 8 reported cases and 6 deaths.
• However, the most devastating cases occurred between March and June 2016 in three countries: Sierra Leone: over 14,000 cases and about 4,000 deaths; Liberia: about 10,000 cases and 3,000 deaths; Guinea:  3,800 cases and 2,500 deaths.

The global narrative on Ebola

Ebola's ravaging of African countries generated global panic and hysteria in 2015 when two patients died in the United States and one each in Spain and Germany. Gaby‐Fleur Böl, a researcher at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin, Germany, identified other cases in Spain, Germany, the UK, Italy and Switzerland. At that time, an Ebola infection was considered a death sentence due to the lack of an effective treatment.

As  Böl asserted, the high mortality rate of Ebola and also “the sometimes‐exaggerated media coverage” of the epidemic created hysteria around the world.

This position was further corroborated by a 2017 study in which Hal Roberts, Brittany Seymour, Sands Alden Fish II, Emily Robinson and Ethan Zuckerman analyzed over 109,000 stories published in US mainstream/regional media and blogs between July to November 2014, with a focus on Ebola coverage.

They discovered that three distinct peaks in Ebola coverage in the United States media and blogs “occurred around July 27, September 28, and 15 October 2014″:

On July 27, reports broke of the first infections of American doctors in Liberia. On September 30, media widely reported the infection of Thomas Duncan in Texas as the first infection on US soil. On October 12, Ebola coverage intensified with the first infection of a health care worker in the United States. After October 12, a series of other US infection-related events led to continuous coverage that gradually lessened in intensity over time.

US media may have covered Ebola so intensively because of the presence of the disease in the US. In addition, with a more interconnected army of digital networks, the Ebola epidemic became more amplified in Europe and the US.

However, what remains to be seen is if the discovery of a cure by an African from DR of Congo to this “African” epidemic will also garner as much coverage as it did in 2017.

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