Harare, Oct 26. (Xinhua/GNA) – The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday urged Zimbabwe to assess its Ebola preparedness and bolster disease surveillance amid the continued spread of the virus across several African countries.
Speaking in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare at the launch of two grants totalling 16.82 million U.S. dollars aimed at strengthening Zimbabwe’s pandemic readiness, Desta Tiruneh, WHO Representative to Zimbabwe, emphasised the importance of a robust preparedness plan to effectively deal with the disease once it is detected in the country.
“While Zimbabwe has not reported Ebola cases, this is an opportune moment to critically assess and challenge our level of readiness,” Tiruneh said, calling for fully functional surveillance systems, points of entry screening, laboratory diagnostic capacity, and rapid response teams to contain any potential imported cases, among others.
Noting that the outbreak had already spread beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to countries like Kenya and Nigeria, Tiruneh warned that pathogens did not respect borders and cross-border transmission remained a real threat.
He urged health authorities to review national response plans, address operational gaps, and reinforce coordination across all administrative levels for rapid detection and containment.
The current Ebola outbreak has become the largest and deadliest ever recorded in the DRC and the second-largest Ebola outbreak globally, after the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic.
GNA