Ebola crisis: World Health Organization response criticised in damning report

Peter Piot, the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who also co-chaired the panel, said.

An independent panel of 19 specialists, including scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has called for sweeping reforms to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe, which killed more than 11,000 people. “It is gratifying to see that there is consensus of thought on many of these key issues”.

Since the West Africa Ebola outbreak began in 2013, there have been 28,634 confirmed cases and 11,314 deaths.

Kateh said investigations about the source of the virus’ resurgence are being carried out.

“The Ebola virus is not that generally infectious”.

Professor Ashish Jha said the next epidemic could be just around the corner.

David Nabarro, the United Nations special envoy on Ebola, praised the recommendations in the Harvard-LSHTM report.

Reuters reports that more than 150 people are being monitored in the country after it was known that they were in contact with the family.

Despite the significant castigation towards World Health Organization, the authors said it is not the only culprit. For example, an executive director of a new World Health Organization outbreak response center would report both to the WHO’s director-general and an outside board that includes scientific and operations experts and government representatives. A report by an internal panel found it unclear “why early warnings, approximately from May through to July 2014, did not result in an effective and adequate response”.

“Major reform of national and global system to respond to epidemics are not only feasible, but also essential so that we do not witness such depths of suffering, death and social and economic havoc in future epidemics”, said Piot, who also discovered the Ebola virus. In the present case of the boy, the relatives and other high risk members who were in direct contact with him have been shifted to Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, said the Liberian Health Minister Dr. Bernice Dahn.

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola on 7 November.

The World Health Organization must be overhauled and countries worldwide must reassess their roles if they are to protect against future crises such as the West African Ebola outbreak, according to a major report released late Sunday by a panel of global experts.

The report entitled “Will Ebola Change the Game?” made particular emphasis on WHO for its lack of efforts in alerting the world regarding the severity of the outbreak in a timely manner.

A 15-year-old boy was admitted to a hospital in Monrovia after showing symptoms of Ebola including bleeding and fever.

Aylward said it’s possible the boy’s case is not part of the original outbreak, which appears to be over, but may be due to the persistence of the virus in a few survivors who can then pass it along to others.

Liberia was last declared free of the EVD transmission for the second time on Thursday, September 3, after completing a second 42-day period without reporting a new case in the country.