WHO DG Tedros Calls For Unity To End DRC Ebola Outbreak; AFP Examines Burial Practices In DRC

Agence France-Presse: DRC must unite in Ebola fight amid ‘high’ risk of spread: WHO chief
“The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged different political factions in the Democratic Republic of Congo to unite in the battle against Ebola, warning that the risk of spread ‘remains very high.’ ‘Ebola does not take sides. It is the enemy of everybody,’ WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the organization’s annual assembly in Geneva…” (5/20).

Agence France-Presse: High-security Ebola burials spark dismay, anger in DR Congo
“People in Ebola-hit eastern DR Congo are struggling to come to terms with high-security burials that are part of a hard-pressed strategy to roll back the disease. Anyone who dies of the highly infectious hemorrhagic fever has to be buried in carefully controlled conditions designed to minimize the risk of infection from body fluids. But that means ceremonies are carried out in sanitized conditions, with relatives and friends kept at a distance — for many, a traumatic break with traditions that demand the body of a loved-one be seen or touched…” (5/21).

Additional coverage of the Ebola outbreak in DRC is available from Al JazeeraAssociated Press, and PBS NewsHour.


Source: https://www.kff.org/news-summary/who-dg-tedros-calls-for-unity-to-end-drc-ebola-outbreak-sanitary-burials-of-victims-upset-family-members-in-eastern-congo/

[Disclaimer]