The World Health Organization (WHO) will establish a center for control of Ebola epidemic in Guinea soon, the organization's Regional Director for Africa Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo disclosed here Thursday.
The decision was made in response to recommendations by participants at the two-day Emergency Ministerial Meeting on Ebola Virus Outbreak in West Africa that concluded Thursday.
"We are expecting to set up the structure within the next few days. We are expecting support from the government of Guinea and from other governments in that regard," he said in his closing remarks at the end of the meeting.
Dr. Sambo said WHO was also expecting relevant technical and financial partners to join in this coordinated effort of partnership to accelerate the effort towards the control of the ongoing Ebola epidemic. The new facility will be known as the Ebola Control Center in Guinea Conakry.
The meeting highlighted the importance for leadership at various levels, calling on heads of state and of government to get involved in leading efforts to mobilize resources and enhance the activities planned to contain the epidemic.
Dr. Sambo also appealed to the leadership of African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in particular, to consider discussing about this issue and facilitating the mobilization of domestic and international resources required to do the technical work.
A total of 155 people attended the meeting, including ministers of health and their deputies. They estimated that for the next six months the sub-region would need at least 10 million U.S. dollars to implement the different activities that were prioritized in the context of the sub-regional strategy.
The meeting also adopted a communiqu, urging Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama who is also Chairman of sub-regional body ECOWAS to ensure that the meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State to open here next Thursday prioritizes discussions on the Ebola outbreak and how to contain it.
They also urged greater efforts to be made to improve awareness, and the understanding of the deadly disease. Symptoms of the Ebola virus infection range from fever to throat and muscle pains.
The current Ebola outbreak which started in Gueckedou and its surroundings in rural Guinea has spread to Conakry, the capital of Guinea, and neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia. The outbreak, which the WHO has rated as surpassing all other outbreaks in terms of cases, deaths and geographic spread, has so far recorded 750 infections with 455 deaths.
