Submission + - WHO declares escalating Ebola outbreak an international emergency (sciencemag.org) 2
mdsolar writes: With cases rapidly mounting in four West African countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) today declared the Ebola outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), a designation that allows the agency to issue recommendations for travel restrictions but also sends a strong message that more resources need to be mobilized to bring the viral disease under control.
"The outbreak is moving faster than we can control it," WHO director-general Margaret Chan said at a press conference in Geneva this morning. Chan said the declaration of a PHEIC serves as "an urgent call for international solidarity." The affected countries don't have the resources to battle the disease alone, and neither does her agency. With three major humanitarian crises on its hands--in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic--as well as three important disease outbreaks--Ebola, the H7N9 influenza virus, and MERS--WHO is "extremely stretched," she said. So are organizations such as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), which do much of the control work on the ground.
This is only the third time the health agency has issued a PHEIC declaration since the new International Health Regulations (IHR), a global agreement on the control of diseases, were adopted in 2005. The previous two instances were in 2009, for the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and in May for the resurgence of polio.
"The outbreak is moving faster than we can control it," WHO director-general Margaret Chan said at a press conference in Geneva this morning. Chan said the declaration of a PHEIC serves as "an urgent call for international solidarity." The affected countries don't have the resources to battle the disease alone, and neither does her agency. With three major humanitarian crises on its hands--in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic--as well as three important disease outbreaks--Ebola, the H7N9 influenza virus, and MERS--WHO is "extremely stretched," she said. So are organizations such as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), which do much of the control work on the ground.
This is only the third time the health agency has issued a PHEIC declaration since the new International Health Regulations (IHR), a global agreement on the control of diseases, were adopted in 2005. The previous two instances were in 2009, for the H1N1 influenza pandemic, and in May for the resurgence of polio.
