WHO issues an international health emergency over 'global' Ebola outbreak

The World Health Organisation confirmed that the current outbreak is the “most severe and most complex” in nearly four decades.

18:04 08 August 2014

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared an international public health emergency over the “global” Ebola outbreak, which is considered the “most severe and most complex” in nearly four decades.

The deadly epidemic, which ripped through West Africa, is predicted to end in “three to six months” but it has been stressed that the whole world should take notice and prepare themselves for the worst.

The committee’s decision to declare an international state of emergency was unanimous although they acknowledged that many countries will not be affected by the virus. WHO’s director general Dr Margaret Chan said that the declaration “alerts the world to the need for high vigilance of possible cases of Ebola.”

She added: "Countries affected to date simply do not have the capacity to manage an outbreak of this size and complexity on their own. I urge the international community to provide this support on the most urgent basis possible."

Dr Keiji Fukuda, the organisation’s head of health security, is confident that the spread of infection can be stopped. “This is not a mysterious disease. This is an infectious disease that can be contained. It is not a virus that is spread through the air.”

He reiterated that the severity of the outbreak has been down to fragile health systems and serious lack of human, financial, and material resources in the countries that are currently affected.