MSF prepares response plan against ebola in DRC

Médecins Sans Frontières says it is preparing response plan against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization also said, discussions are already underway with Congolese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) to make the vaccines available.

So far, 18 lives have been claimed to the latest outbreak of the ebola virus in the North of this Central African nation.

“Today a response plan is being drawn up by the Ministry of Health with all the others in order to be able to organize the response to this new epidemic’‘, said Julien Binet, MSF’s deputy head of mission.

On Friday, the WHO said the risk of the spread of the Ebola epidemic in DR Congo was ‘high’ and that it was preparing for the ‘worst-case scenario’. It said it was awaiting green light from the DRC authorities to distribute an experimental Ebola vaccine.

Binet said ‘‘the Congolese authorities, the WHO, as well as MSF are already in discussion to have the vaccines available. There is much hope that vaccination at the Bikoro level can limit transmission of the epidemic’‘.

According to the WHO, Médecins Sans Frontières is setting up a treatment center for case management in the Bikoro health zone.

The WHO said, although the epidemic appears to be geographically limited in a remote region, the overall risk is considered high at the national level.

It said this is due to the nature of the disease and lack of demographic information to estimate the magnitude of the epidemic.