DRC Ebola News (9/18/19)
"DRC Ebola News (9/18/19)." CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security, Center for Strategic and International Studies, September 18, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2020. https://healthsecurity.csis.org/articles/drc-ebola-news-9-18-19/
There were 15 new cases as of September 17th.
Current DRC and Rwandan ministers of health meet to consider joint strategies to fight the ongoing outbreak.
The Ugandan government is considering the use of medical drones to ease delivery of Ebola vaccines and blood samples around the country.
DRC MoH Statistics/WHO AFRO Dashboard (as of September 17)
Total cases: 3,145
- Confirmed cases: 3,034
- Probable cases: 111
- Suspected cases: 493
Deaths: 2,098
Vaccinated: 222,730
Ebola: DRC and Rwanda join forces
9/18/19
DRC Health Minister André Eteni Longondo traveled to Gisenyi, Rwanda at the invitation of the Rwandan minister to exchange and implement strategies to fight Ebola. Longondo also visited the border between the DRC and Rwanda to see how the people of both countries collaborate. He expressed the wish not to see this disease spread to other villages. The Rwandan minister expressed her satisfaction with the meeting and reaffirmed her commitment to collaborate with DRC in the fight against Ebola. Longondo will return to Rwanda next month for a new assessment of the outbreak situation.
Ebola: Experts champion medical drones
By Violet Nabatanzi, 9/18/19
“Medical drones are the fastest means of transport. In outbreaks, we want responses as fast as possible. For an Ebola outbreak, we need to confirm it in time and transport vaccines in the next minute,” said Dr. Susan Nabadda, the executive director of National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services in Uganda. “We take about six hours to get samples from Kasese to Kampala. But for drones, it would take a few minutes to get back the samples,” she added. The Ugandan commissioner for clinical services at the ministry of health confirmed that there are currently discussions with partners about the process of introducing medical drones and that finalization is ongoing about financing strategies to support the technology.
Tweet by Crawford Kilian– 9/18/19
A new case of #Ebola detected at Oicha after three weeks without a case
Tweet by David Gressly– 9/17/19
Speaking to local journalists about the steps we will take together with local authorities to ensure that we listen to the concerns of local populations and get their trust to fight #Ebola together here in Ituri. #OnEstEnsemble
Tweet by Helen Branswell– 9/18/19
On the good news side of the ledger, yesterday was indeed Day 21 since the most recent #Ebola case at Mwenge in South Kivu. A full incubation period without a case. If that spreading event was contained, that would be a very good thing. 2 active provinces is enough!