WHO to establish a Sub-Regional Ebola Control Centre in Guinea

As part of the strategy to deal with the Ebola virus Disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is to establish a Sub-Regional Control Centre in Guinea to act as a co-ordinating platform to consolidate and harmonise technical support to West African countries by all major partners; and assist in resource mobilisation.

The decision is one of the outcomes of the two-day Health Ministers meeting on the Ebola Virus Disease held in Accra recently. Ebola has become a serious threat to all countries in the West African sub-region and beyond.

A release issued by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Accra, said the delegates underscored the importance of WHO leading an international effort to promote research on Ebola virus disease and other hemorrhagic fevers.

Highlights of the strategy include convening national inter-sectoral meetings involving key government Ministries, national technical committees and other stakeholders to map out a plan for immediate implementation of the strategy; and mobilising community, religious and political leaders to improve awareness, and the understanding of the disease.

Others are strengthening surveillance, case-finding reporting and contact tracing, and deploying additional national human resources with the relevant qualifications to key hot spots.

The rest are identifying and committing additional domestic financial resources; organising cross-border consultations to facilitate the exchange of information, and working and sharing experiences with countries that have previously managed Ebola outbreaks in the spirit of South-South cooperation.

The current Ebola outbreak is reportedly the highest recorded in terms of cases, deaths and geographic spread across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. This necessitated the Ministerial meeting in Accra to discuss ways to contain the disease and bring it to an end.