WHO fails in battle against deadly ebola
Only Guinea is on track to meet the goal, according to an update from WHO.
In Liberia, only 23% of cases are isolated and 26% of the needed burial teams are in place. In Sierra Leone, about 40% of cases are isolated while 27% of burial teams are operational.
It marks another failure in attempts to slow the biggest-ever outbreak of the deadly disease. The ebola outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March and spiralled out of control after being declared a public health emergency in August.
WHO’s Dr Bruce Aylward acknowledged in October that to reach the December 1 goal would be “really pushing the system hard”.
“If we don’t do it in 60 days and we take 90 days: No 1, a lot more people will die that shouldn’t; and No 2, we will need that much more capacity on the ground to be able to manage the caseload,” said Aylward, who is directing WHO’s ebola response.
In recent weeks, there have been some successes in curbing ebola; cases seem to be declining or stabilising in Liberia and Guinea. But the area around Sierra Leone’s capital and a district in the country’s north are seeing a severe surge in cases.
The December 1 targets had been met in many places — but not all, which was the goal, said Anthony Banbury, who is heading the UN’s Ebola response. “There are still going to be many people who catch the disease and many people who die from it,” he said.
Even if the December 1 targets had been reached, WHO and others had predicted ebola would continue sickening people in West Africa and possibly elsewhere until sometime next year. Ebola has affected more than 16,000 people, of whom nearly 7,000 have died.
Oyewale Tomori, of Redeemer’s University in Nigeria, who sits on WHO’s emergency ebola committee, said: “We need to redouble our efforts to see what we can do to reduce the spread and catch up with the virus. Right now, it doesn’t look good.”
Other experts said the WHO goals were never very significant.
“You want to isolate 100% of patients with ebola and have 100% safe burials,” said Sebastian Funk, director of the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“Getting to 70% doesn’t really mean a lot.”
The ultimate goal of WHO’s plan is to isolate all ebola patients and provide safe burials for all by January 1.
