Virus Diseases

WHO/S. Gborie

7 October 2015 - Ian Norton is an emergency physician who came to West Africa to help find and coordinate foreign medical teams to treat people with Ebola virus disease. Under Ian’s guidance, WHO developed a registry of foreign medical teams around the world able to respond rapidly not only to Ebola but to other health emergencies.

WHO/C. Black

5 October 2015 - The Emergency Committee on the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa, convened by the Director-General under the International Health Regulations, met for the 7th time on 1 October 2015.

The purpose of the meeting was to consider whether the outbreak continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and to review, extend or revise temporary recommendations that accompany that declaration. The committee advised that the Ebola outbreak continues to constitute a PHEIC and issued a series of new recommendations that supersede those issued previously.

WHO/Robin Dartell

18 September 2015 - The Ebola Phase 3 framework incorporates new knowledge and tools into the ongoing Ebola response and recovery work to achieve and sustain a "resilient zero".

Phase 3 builds upon the rapid scale-up of treatment beds, safe and dignified burial teams, and behaviour change capacities during Phase 1; and the enhanced capacities for case finding, contract tracing, and community engagement during Phase 2. It includes new developments and breakthroughs in Ebola control, from vaccines, diagnostics and response operations to survivor counselling and care.

WHO/M. Winkler

16 September 2015 - WHO is helping Sierra Leone to mobilize all its experience and partners to ensure that any new cases of Ebola are investigated and transmission of the disease stopped as rapidly as possible.

Sad news that a 16-year old girl had died from Ebola in Bombali district, a part of the country that had a large outbreak 5 months ago, sparked an immediate inter-agency rapid response. Partners sent people with the skills and equipment needed to stop further infection in Bombali.

WHO/S. Gborie

15 September 2015 - At her address to the Regional Committee for Europe, Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, says the Ebola outbreak is not yet over, but we are very close. We are in a phase where we can track the last chains of transmission, and break them. To get to this phase, WHO deployed more than 1000 staff to 68 field sites in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

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