The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Michael Azar II ended a working visit to Rwanda after meeting President Paul Kagame late Sunday with handshakes — and a message hailing current efforts to prevent the spread of Ebola Virus to Rwanda from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Azar ‘s visit to Rwanda is part of regional tour which will also take him to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where by he is heading a delegation of other top US health officials to gauge the Ebola outbreak in the region, the world’s second largest in history.
Among the US officials in the visiting delegation includes Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Joining the US delegation is the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,who has made nearly monthly trips to the DRC since August 2018, when the outbreak began in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
While meeting with top officials from the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda, the delegation will discuss the United States’s continued efforts in the region, including Health and Human Services funding of a second year of Ebola vaccine manufacturing, the deployment of CDC personnel to the DR Congo, and support for a clinical trial of Ebola therapeutics.
Reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that as of 10 September, there are 3 new confirmed Ebola cases, which raises the outbreak total to 3,084, including 2,070 deaths. A total of 398 suspected cases are still under investigation, according to the same source.
The WHO said that under Pillar 1 of the current Strategic Response Plan, the estimated funding requirement for all partners for the period July to December 2019 is US$ 287 million, including US$ 120-140 million for the UN agency.
Since the outbreak, the hemorrhagic fever has gradually spread, infecting nearly 3,091 people and killing 2,074 people
CU/abj/APA