Health
EU Allocates €17.5m To Support Ebola Response In Africa
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says the European Union Commission has allocated 17.5 million euros to support ongoing efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Africa CDC said this in a post on its official X account on Tuesday.
According to the agency, its Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya, received Ms Hadja Lahbib, European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.
The meeting focused on the Ebola outbreak response and broader African Union-European Union health cooperation.
“The @EU_Commission reaffirmed its strong support to Africa CDC by allocating 17.5 million euro to support the Ebola response.
“We thank the EU for this timely and concrete support,” Kaseya was quoted as saying.
According to the post, Kaseya reaffirmed Africa CDC’s commitment to coordinated action with partners to strengthen preparedness, surveillance and response efforts across the continent.
Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) said the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) over the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda followed procedures.
The procedures are outlined in the International Health Regulations (IHR).
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, told the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva that the declaration was issued under Article 12 of the IHR due to growing concerns about the outbreak.
“On May 18, I declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for an Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda.
“This is the first time a Director-General has declared a PHEIC before convening an Emergency Committee,” Ghebreyesus said.
He added that the committee would meet to consider temporary recommendations on the rapidly expanding outbreak.
“It was done under Article 12 of the IHR after consulting both health ministers, due to concerns over the scale and speed of the epidemic,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru