Guinea Urged to Strengthen Health System as Ebola Outbreak Ends

Guinea joins Sierra Leone (declared free in November 7) as an Ebola-free country, leaving Liberia as the only country still battling with the virus.

The announcement comes 42 days after the last person confirmed with Ebola tested negative for a second time.

The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 11,000 people and sickened more than 28,000 others in 10 countries around the globe, according to the World Health Organization.

As a reminder, at the peak of the outbreak in 2014, Guinea was reporting hundreds of new cases a week.

Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, WHO’s representative in Guinea, said Tuesday the nation will now enter a 90-day period of heightened surveillance.

He added, however, that the global community must remain vigilant to ensure the affected countries are able to rebuild their economies and strengthen their health systems to prevent another pandemic. EVD which started in late December 2013 spread to seven other countries by land and air travel apart from severely affecting the nearby states of Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Why? The photo captures the exact moment when Noubia, the last known patient to contract Ebola in Guinea, was released from care after being treated for the deadly disease.

“The time-limited persistence of the virus in survivors which may give rise to new Ebola flares in 2016 makes it imperative that partners continue to support these countries”.

Scientists are closely monitoring the virus and warn that Ebola can lie dormant and hide in parts of the body such as the eyes and testicles, and rare cases of the virus re-emerging have been reported.

Survivors of the disease still live in fear and must contend with the stigma of the virus.

Guests will pay tribute to the 115 health workers who died fighting Ebola and eight members of an Ebola awareness team killed by hostile locals in Guinea’s forested southeast.

Months have gone by since the outbreak peaked previous year, when patients were dying by thousands. “I congratulate everybody who participated in the fight against Ebola”. When white people were threatened by the disease, there was exponentially more concern and interest; when they were no longer threatened, there was silence.