WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gestures during a press conference with the Association of Accredited Correspondents at the United Nations (ACANU) at the World Health Organization's headquarters in Geneva, on December 10, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has delivered 12 tonnes of emergency medical supplies and equipment to support the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in responding to its latest Ebola virus disease outbreak.
The supplies, shipped from WHO’s Emergency Response and Preparedness hub in Nairobi, include personal protective equipment (PPE) sufficient for 120 frontline workers for one month, patient isolation kits, and water, sanitation and hygiene materials.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa disclosed this on Sunday in a post on X.
Earlier on 5 September, the WHO announced the release of $500,000 from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to support the response.
WHO’s Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said the funds would help strengthen surveillance, contact tracing, testing and infection prevention.
W.H.O said frontline responders from the agency, the DRC Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are being vaccinated against Ebola before deployment to the field.
The global agency added that the DRC has a stockpile of 2,000 Ebola vaccine doses and is in the process of procuring additional supplies in the coming days.
These measures follow the declaration of an outbreak in Kasai Province of the DRC, where 28 suspected cases and 16 deaths, including four health workers, had been reported as of 5 September.
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