Ebola

The Journal of the American Medical Association published recommendations to the US government regarding the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Ebola epidemic in the DRC is exceptionally dangerous, occurring within active armed conflict and geopolitical volatility, including a million displaced persons.The United States and international community should launch high-level political mobilization, with diplomatic, human, and economic resources. It is critical to recognize that future health crises will occur in fragile, insecure settings. To prepare, the international community needs long-term planning and enhanced capacities to improve the safety and effectiveness of epidemic response operations.

Nearly one year since the Ebola epidemic broke out in Guinea and later spread to other West African nations, frontline health workers still come under attacks. Lack of awareness and cultural beliefs are to blame. “These attacks range from verbal abuse to physical,” Moustapha Diallo, spokesperson for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Guinea, told DW in an interview.

As new cases of Ebola rose at the start of February in Guinea, violent attacks on health workers and aid teams increase. "People tell us if we don't leave they'll beat us up, or smash up the car," said Paquile Zoglelemou, head of the Red Cross in Lola, a town set in thick, tropical jungle in the deep southeast of Guinea near the Liberian border.

In early December, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on “global health and foreign policy.” As the title suggests, it was a bit of a grab bag, covering issues such as vaccines, strengthening health systems, and Ebola. But the resolution also included the General Assembly’s strongest statement yet on the issue of attacks on health workers, facilities, and patients, and called on governments to act to ensure health workers and patients are safe and facilities protected from attack.

A spokesman for the government in Guinea said on Thursday that eight bodies were found two days after a group of health workers and journalists went missing in the country. The journalists and officials came under attack near the southern city of Nzerekore, close to the Liberian border. One journalist was able to escape and later told reporters that she could hear villagers looking for her. The Associated Press said that the group "was doing disinfection and education on prevention methods" when it went missing.