Gabon is revising its national response plan against the Ebola epidemic after the detection of a case in Cote d’Ivoire.
Gabon felt exposed after the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Abidjan. To prepare for any eventuality of this fever appearing in this central African state, the resident representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Patrick Obiang Ndong and national actors in the fight against Ebola held an emergency meeting on Monday 16 August.
“According to WHO, a case is considered an epidemic in this country, so Gabon has a direct flight with Cote d’Ivoire, it is important for us to be prepared and revisit our response against Ebola,” Dr. Ndong said.
Faced with the density of traffic of travellers and goods between the two countries, the Gabonese health authorities have decided to reactivate the operational cell of response to epidemics (CORE). The control mechanism on land, air and sea borders will now be reinforced and a systematic control carried out on international passengers.
The WHO representative invited the local health authorities to focus more on control measures at Libreville airport, which has a large flow of passengers from West Africa, particularly from Cote d’Ivoire.
CD/lb/abj/APA