WHO calls for community cooperation to contain DRC Ebola outbreak

Containing the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo requires community cooperation and is “everybody’s business”, the World Health Organization has said. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , the organisation’s director general, made the plea on Sunday during a visit to eastern Congo where some residents have protested against stringent medical protocols for handling victims’ bodies. “We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule … is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” Ghebreyesus said at the opening of a treatment centre in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, which is at the centre of the outbreak. Protesters have complained restrictions on handling victims’ bodies violate local burial rites, a sentiment that has been linked to at least three attacks against health centres. There was no vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus, the current strain of Ebola, but infected people can recover, Ghebreyesus said. “If you come to health facilities when you have symptoms, you can get the support and recover, so the key is to come forward as early as possible and to get the necessary support.” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus washes his hands at the Evangelical Medical Center in Bunia, Ituri province, DRC. Photograph: Gradel Muyisa Mumbere/Reuters Five patients have recovered and four were to be discharged on Sunday, after the earlier discharge of the other patient, the WHO chief said. …