PREVIEW
Health ministers are meeting to agree response to cases in West, Central and East Africa and no Bundibugyo vaccine due for months
African health ministers are to convene online on 28 October to agree a response to the Ebola epidemic that has quickly broken out of Congo-Kinshasa where it was first detected in May. Nigeria and Kenya have reported cases, and Kenya has reported the first death outside the core zone.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Ebola outbreak was growing more ‘complex’ after confirmed cases and the first two deaths were reported in Nigeria and Kenya respectively. On 23 October UN agencies reported 4,727 deaths in Congo-Kinshasa, while WHO’s latest detailed assessment identified persistent shortcomings in contact follow-up and early detection.
The patient in Nigeria is the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat based in Abuja, and it is unclear where she had been infected. Claims that she contracted the virus in Uganda have been flatly denied by officials in Kampala, a reminder of how anxious governments are that they will lose tourism trade if they become Ebola hotspots.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) has warned of an ‘extremely serious threat’, with the fatality rate in Congo-Kinshasa approaching 50%. In June, the WHO and Africa CDC agreed a focus on ‘emergency coordination, disease surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, community engagement, research, logistics and support for essential health services.’ (AC Vol 67 No 12, Region prepares for a crisis it can’t afford).
Governments and international agencies are struggling to raise money for testing, surveillance and preparedness and a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain is still months from being available (AC Vol 67 No 15, Ebola exposes preparedness gaps).
So far containment measures appear to have limited transmission in Kenya.
A Phase 2/3 vaccine trial has begun in Bunia, but there is still no approved vaccine against the virus. For governments and other agencies, the immediate challenge remains financing and delivering an effective response with the tools already available.
Aside from the efforts to contain the virus, the UN World Food Programme has warned that the epidemic in Congo-Kinshasa, which has now spread to eight provinces, has left nearly 3.5m people facing crisis-level hunger or worse across Ebola-affected areas. Last week the WFP warned that it would need US$214million over the next six months to maintain support in these regions.
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