Politics ‘root cause’ of Ebola, warns health official
A top health official has warned that although Ebola outbreaks can be controlled, the disease will keep returning until political stability is achieved in the region.
The outbreak can be stopped this time but “it may come back, because the system is weak,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus, chief executive of the World Health Organization (WHO), who has just returned from a research visit to DR Congo and Uganda.
He said that despite vaccinating millions of people against measles, cholera and chikungunya, there are currently outbreaks of these diseases.
“When there is no peace and lack of securit,y the health condition of the people is the most affected,” said Dr Tedros. “Unless we affect the root cause of the problem we won’t have solutions.”
He said the world should help DR Congo, the Central African Republic and other fragile countries find political solutions to their problems.
He also referred to Yemen, which didn’t have an outbreak of cholera for many years, to the point that “they even forgot about it” but since civil war broke out there, the disease has returned, killing more than 2,500 people.
Source: bbc.co.uk
