WHO officials said a ready assessment for Guinea’s neighbors showed gaps in their preparations for the Ebola revolution.
World Health Organization officials say the risk of the Ebola outbreak spreading to Guinea’s neighbors is “very high” and that some of these countries are not ready for vaccination campaigns.
WHO Guinea representative Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo told a filial meeting on Friday that 18 cases of Ebola had been identified, and that four of those infected had died.
To date, 1,604 people have been vaccinated against Ebola in the new uprising in Guinea, the first resurgence of the virus there since the uprising of 2013-2016 – the most worst in the world – spread to several other West African countries and killed more than 11,300 people.
The Ebola virus causes diarrhea and diarrhea and is spread through contact with body fluids.
Officials said a willing assessment for Guinea’s neighbors – Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia – revealed gaps in their preparation.
“There are six countries nearby to Guinea and we have assessed willingness. Two countries are not ready and one is complete and three countries are ready or less, ”WHO Regional Emergency Director Abdou Salam Gueye said by video conference from Guinea.
He said that none of the neighboring countries were fully prepared to start Ebola vaccines, if needed, and that in any case there were not enough vaccine doses available to start vaccination preventively.
“But these neighboring countries agreed on cross-border cooperation and coordination to control the revolution,” he said.
Ebola vaccines, like some COVID-19 images, require ultra-cold chain storage, which presents supply challenges. Guinea received doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered from China this week.
“We are dealing with fragile health systems that involve (lack of capacity) to deal with many public health challenges so it is still a challenge to address all of these. some COVID and Ebola, ”said WHO’s Michel Yao, director of strategic health activity.
‘We need to act quickly’
Separately, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday launched a bid to raise $ 8m for efforts to halt the resurgence of the Ebola virus in Guinea.
The money will be used to support preparedness and response actions, as well as emergency coordination efforts at national and prefectural levels and major cross-border levels, the United Nations agency said in a statement.
“We have seen the devastation that a delayed public health crisis can cause to a community and societies in general,” said Maximilian Diaz, head of IOM Guinea.
“We have to stand by the people of Guinea, and we have to act fast.”