The World Health Organization declared an international emergency over the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, elevating its status while nonetheless maintaining that the global risk of outbreak remains low. The International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee said it was concerned that a year into an…
The report of an Ebola patient in the busy travel hub of Goma heightened the sense of urgency during a high-level meeting in Geneva on Monday, where global response leaders met to evaluate the crisis. It also spurred the decision to meet for a fourth time to reassess the level…
With the Ebola crisis continuing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and amid global calls for a “reset” on the international response, top officials will gather in Geneva on Monday for a high-level meeting organized jointly by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of…
An internal United Nations document that appears to question an existing ban on tobacco company engagement with the UN is raising a few eyebrows, following its publication by journalist Colum Lynch at Foreign Policy. The memo from Michael Møller, the outgoing director of the UN Office at Geneva (UNOG), was…
Although the World Health Organization decided Friday that the Ebola crisis does not yet warrant an international emergency declaration, the outbreak continues in Democratic Republic of Congo where they’ve now reached a total of 2,143 cases. Among them are 1,427 fatalities, according to the daily update from the Congolese Ministry…
On the question of Libya, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with his Tunisian and Algerian counterparts Wednesday to discuss the crisis, agreeing to press for a ceasefire and advance the cause of a Libyan political agreement jeopardized by the fighting in Tripoli. Shoukry, Tunisian Khemaies Jhinaoui and Algeria’s Ramtane…
The World Health Organization plans an emergency meeting on Friday, following the news that Ebola has spread from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo into Uganda. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee will meet in Geneva to determine if the spread of the…
The World Health Organization is promoting the first-ever World Food Safety Day, a United Nations initiative rooted in the theme that “food safety is everyone’s business.” Every year, an estimated 600 million people become ill after eating food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances. Unsafe food also hinders…
Nigeria will enact strict tobacco control provisions that have been tabled for four years, according to its ministry of health, which publicly announced provisions on Friday in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day and the World Health Organization. The country’s national assembly ratified the 2015 National Tobacco Control Act provisions…
Researchers in Burkina Faso and the United States say they’ve taken a big step forward in potentially reducing Africa’s malaria risk, by successfully killing off mosquitoes using a technique that relies on genetic manipulation to make an existing fungus threat more lethal to them. The researchers tested their theory in…
Religious leaders in the Congolese city of Butembo launched a two-day symposium on Thursday that brings together the groups resistant to the Ebola intervention and its workers, in hopes of reducing violent attacks and improving response outcomes. The meeting follows a visit to Butembo earlier this week by David Gressly,…
The World Health Organization has appointed an Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as it continues a fight against an Ebola outbreak that has shown no signs of abating. David Gressly, the UN’s deputy special representative serving with MINUSCO, will focus on improving access to communities…
There are growing concerns that the Ebola crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 1,100 people have died since the outbreak was declared last August, will spill beyond its borders. “I’m just back from Congo and it is clear that the Ebola outbreak is getting worse, not better,…
The Ebola response in the city of Butembo, in the eastern North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo, was interrupted by violence again on Wednesday. Congolese media outlets report at least nine people dead following clashes between armed rebel groups and security forces, with some accounts putting the death…
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a new milestone, with the number of fatalities reaching 900, according to the Congolese Ministry of Health on Friday. More than a third of those deaths are in Katwa, where controlling the outbreak has proven difficult and the fatalities rose to…