But new flare-up in western DRC and COVID-19 pose challenges | THE INDEPENDENT | The deadliest and longest Ebola outbreak in the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has finally ended, the Health Minister Longondo Eteni jubilantly announced on June 25. The outbreak, concentrated in Ituri and North …
Read More »Ebola outbreak defeated in DRC after almost two years
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC has been declared free of Ebola Virus Disease by the World Health Organisation almost two years since the Ebola outbreak was declared in the country. The Ebola outbreak which began in August 2018 in eastern DRC, …
Read More »DRC health minister announces end of Ebola epidemic in country’s northeast
Kampala, Uganda | XINHUA | Congolese health minister Eteni Longondo announced on Thursday that the Ebola virus disease epidemic in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has ended. According to the minister, this has been the longest and most complex Ebola epidemic in the history of …
Read More »Ebola outbreak in DRC
Outbreak comes just as the worst epidemic in the country’s history is petering out Nearly 50 staff from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners arrived in Mbandaka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on June 03. Mbandaka is the location of what is feared coulb be …
Read More »WHO teams arrive in Mbandaka as DRC battles fresh ebola outbreak
Mbandaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Nearly 50 staff from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have arrived in Mbandaka in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to tackle yet another outbreak of Ebola in the country. The responders carried 3,500 doses of Ebola vaccine and 2,000 cartridges …
Read More »DR Congo reports fresh Ebola outbreak
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo on Monday reported a fresh Ebola outbreak in the country’s northwest, just weeks before it hoped to declare the end of another epidemic in the east. The appearance of the deadly disease on the other side of the vast central African country comes as an added blow …
Read More »Trucking in the COVID-19 era: A driver’s nightmare
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In my 31 years as a driver, I have never seen anything like this…” This was John Lubowa’s first remark as he sat down to narrate the truck drivers’ current ordeal as they transport goods across the East African region during the coronavirus crisis. Lubowa …
Read More »Coronavirus fails to halt conflict in DRC’s powder-keg east
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Coronavirus has swiftly gained status as the world’s No. 1 threat but in eastern DR Congo, one of Africa’s most volatile regions, militia killings and ethnic violence are an older and — for now — far greater source of dread. Some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 …
Read More »MSF doctors return to Guinea to fight virus
Conakry, Guinea | AFP | Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reopened its Ebola-era hospital in Guinea, only four years since that epidemic ended, as coronavirus cases soar in the West African state. The country is struggling to curb the virus, despite enacting imposing travel restrictions and a night-time curfew, raising fears …
Read More »VIDEO: When Dr Tedros warned that world is vulnerable to pandemics
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & AFP | Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization who has been criticised by the US for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, warned for years that countries were not prepared in case one broke out. The most shocking outbreak at …
Read More »