On Tuesday, March 29, 2016 the WHO ended the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) for Ebola, perhaps too soon. The PHEIC designation is a determination by a WHO convened Emergency Committee to determine by an algorithm in the International Health Regulations whether the event continues to be a PHEIC.
The WHO was slow to designate the Ebola epidemic in West Africa a PHEIC on August 8, 2014 after months of delay, not seeing the eventual catastrophic spread in West Africa and then into Europe and North America.
In the Emergency Committee findings on their determination to end the public health emergency, this week, they determined that the Ebola outbreak no longer constituted "an extraordinary event," one criteria for designating a PHEIC. However, a new cluster of Ebola was found on March 17 in Guinea, and a new case arose in Liberia on April 1, 2016.
Although these may not be connected to original cases, this is something that bears watching under a PHEIC for a longer period to ensure W. Africa continues to have necessary support to respond, despite WHO's determination that they have the capacity to respond, now. Given the collapse of the internal public health systems for usual functions like childhood vaccinations, it is hard to imagine that W. Africa has miraculously caught up on these functions, and built their infrastructure to respond to one of the world's most challenging diseases.
This should be closely watched by the world.
The WHO was slow to designate the Ebola epidemic in West Africa a PHEIC on August 8, 2014 after months of delay, not seeing the eventual catastrophic spread in West Africa and then into Europe and North America.
In the Emergency Committee findings on their determination to end the public health emergency, this week, they determined that the Ebola outbreak no longer constituted "an extraordinary event," one criteria for designating a PHEIC. However, a new cluster of Ebola was found on March 17 in Guinea, and a new case arose in Liberia on April 1, 2016.
Although these may not be connected to original cases, this is something that bears watching under a PHEIC for a longer period to ensure W. Africa continues to have necessary support to respond, despite WHO's determination that they have the capacity to respond, now. Given the collapse of the internal public health systems for usual functions like childhood vaccinations, it is hard to imagine that W. Africa has miraculously caught up on these functions, and built their infrastructure to respond to one of the world's most challenging diseases.
This should be closely watched by the world.
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