Kinshasa, June 23 (IANS) President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi announced Tuesday that he would soon visit Ituri Province, the epicentre of the country’s latest Ebola outbreak, to follow up on response efforts.”I will very soon go to Ituri Province, to the very sites of the outbreak, to personally follow up,” Tshisekedi said at a joint press conference with visiting Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who currently chairs the African Union, Xinhua news ag…
Latest World Health Organization News & Updates
Dhaka, June 21 (IANS) Bangladesh has reported two more dengue deaths in the 24 hours until Sunday morning, raising the number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in the country to nine in 2026, local media reported. During this period, 220 more people were admitted to hospitals with viral fever, bringing the cumulative infections to 4,900, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). The new deaths were recorded in Barishal division and the Dhaka South City Corporati…
United Nations, June 19 (IANS) UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated $4 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support the Ugandan government’s response to Ebola, a UN spokesperson said.The newly-released funding is part of a CERF allocation of up to 60 million dollars announced at the end of May to strengthen the response. The funding will support United Nations operations across 29 districts in Uga…
New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) The standards of the Indian Pharmacopoeia are comparable with leading international pharmacopoeias, and the country has been recognised for its leadership in developing and establishing quality standards for several medicines, the government said on Thursday.A delegation from the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) led by Dr V Kalaiselvan, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director, along with Dr Pawan Saini and Dr Shruti Rastogi, participated in the 16th International Meeting…
Kinshasa, June 14 (IANS) The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 710, including 149 deaths, the country’s health ministry said, while dismissing social media rumors that a nationwide lockdown had been imposed in response to the outbreak.The case fatality rate stood at 21.0 percent, according to figures released by the ministry. A total of 324 patients were in isolation or hospitalized, while 35 people had recovered.The ministry said the gove…
New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) India is set to play a key role in the global response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, with the Serum Institute of India (SII) fast-tracking the development and production of a vaccine candidate targeting the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, according to a report.A report by Modern Diplomacy showed that the initiative is being undertaken in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), with su…
Kolkata, June 12 (IANS) With the aim to increase blood donation in the country, the Union government has directed all its its Ministries/departments and their subordinate/attached offices/autonomous bodies to observe the World Blood Donor Day on June 14. The theme for this year is: “One Drop of Humanity, Give Blood, Save Lives”.The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in an order dated May 22, has directed the offices to organise “suitable programmes” that may include “awareness activities, vo…
Kampala, June 11 (IANS) Uganda’s Ministry of Health has announced additional Ebola prevention measures aimed at curbing the possible spread of the disease.Speaking after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s national address on the Ebola outbreak on Wednesday (local time), Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi said Ebola prevention guidelines have been distributed to all districts bordering the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of the current outbreak.Baryomunsi said mass gatherin…
Kinshasa, June 11 (IANS) The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has risen to 635 as of June 9, Health Minister Roger Kamba has said. In a post on social media platform X on Wednesday (local time), Kamba said the outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, continues to pose challenges, but the response is gaining momentum, with more patients recovering and contact tracing improving,, reports Xinhua news agency.According to Kamba, the proportion of co…
Geneva, June 9 (IANS) The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is expanding rapidly, with rising case numbers, wider geographic spread and cross-border transmission to Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.In its latest update, WHO currently assesses the risk as very high for DRC, high for Uganda and neighbouring countries sharing land borders with affected areas, and low for the rest of the African region and globally.As of Sunday, DRC has reported 515 confirm…