Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), is visiting Congo amid the country’s ongoing Ebola outbreak.
“I had the opportunity to meet Lieutenant-General Johnny Luboya Nkashama, Governor of Ituri, which is currently the province reporting the highest number of cases in the ongoing Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus,” Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Saturday.
“During our discussions, we agreed that a key priority in responding to the outbreak is strengthening coordination among all health and humanitarian actors, ensuring that their operations align with the government’s overall leadership in managing the response,” he added.
Ghebreyesus arrived in Kinshasa on Thursday and said he had come to show affected communities that “they are not alone” and that the WHO was there to support response efforts.
He described the Ebola outbreak in Congo as “very complex”, with conflict, insecurity, displacement, food shortages, and community mistrust complicating efforts to contain the disease.
India on Friday expressed its readiness to continue assisting affected countries and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in tackling the health emergency.
Addressing a weekly media briefing in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the medical supplies sent to the Africa CDC had been handed over by India’s High Commissioner to Uganda, Upender Singh Rawat, to the organisation’s office there.
“We have sent medical supplies to the Africa CDC. These were handed over by our High Commissioner in Uganda to the CDC office there. We look forward to extending further assistance, in whatever manner possible, to affected countries and the Africa CDC in dealing with this public health emergency on the continent. We will keep you updated as and when there are further developments. We have already sent the first tranche of medical supplies to the Africa CDC,” Jaiswal added.
–IANS
