Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A number of public places in Kasese district have embraced hand washing as one of the ways to prevent the spread of Ebola following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC in August last year. Three people tested positive for Ebola Virus in …
Read More »WHO says DRC Ebola outbreak not a ‘global’ emergency
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo does not qualify as an international threat, despite the spread of the virus to neighbouring Uganda carried by an infected family. The closely-watched decision followed advice from WHO’s emergency …
Read More »WHO emergency panel meets on Ebola after Uganda deaths
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization emergency committee was meeting Friday on whether to declare a raging Ebola epidemic an international threat, after an outbreak that began in Democratic Republic of Congo crossed into Uganda. The WHO panel, which was formed in 2005, has used the label “public …
Read More »Tshisekedi’s DRC seeks membership of East African trade bloc
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said Thursday that his country was seeking to join the East African Community, a regional political and economic bloc. The DRC shares borders with four of the six members of the bloc, and Tshisekedi said on a …
Read More »How Ebola virus has spread to Uganda from DRC
Kampala, Uganda | Grace Matsiko – AFP | A five-year-old boy is being treated for Ebola in Uganda, the first case since a deadly outbreak in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo 10 months ago, Health Minister Ruth Aceng said Tuesday. Uganda has been on high alert since the outbreak across …
Read More »Ebola-hit DR Congo fears 1,500 dead from measles epidemic
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have declared an epidemic of measles which may have killed 1,500 people, according to statistical analysis. “We have been seeing an increase in the number of suspected cases of measles since the start of the year, …
Read More »DR Congo awaits repatriation of former opposition leader’s body
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo awaited Thursday the delayed return of the remains of former opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, an emotion-laden moment for the country after his son Felix became president this year. A revered opponent of authoritarianism in DRC, Tshiskedi died in Belgium in February …
Read More »New measures launched to strengthen Ebola response outbreak
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The newly appointed UN Ebola Response Emergency Coordinator David Gressly has declared that there is ‘no time to waste’ as the worst ever Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo enters its tenth month. The Declaration came with new measures to strengthen the …
Read More »High-security Ebola burials spark dismay, anger in DR Congo
Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | People in Ebola-hit eastern DR Congo are struggling to come to terms with high-security burials that are part of a hard-pressed strategy to roll back the disease. Anyone who dies of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever has to be buried in carefully-controlled conditions designed …
Read More »Tshisekedi finally appoints PM, Katumbi returns to DRC
Lubumbashi, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday named a government veteran, Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba, as the next prime minister, a move that came nearly four months after his inauguration. Ilunga Ilunkamba was appointed under “the political agreement” between Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph …
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