埃博拉疫情in DRC is international emergency, says WHO

[kinshasa]埃博拉疫情在刚果民主共和国（DRC）现在是“国际关注的公共卫生紧急情况”（PHEIC），世界卫生组织（WHO）宣布，呼吁国际社会加强行动和资金来阻止危机。

The announcement follows the discovery of a case in Goma, a city of almost 2 million inhabitants, where an infected pastor stayed for some time before he died. A woman has also died after crossing the border from DRC into Uganda last week to buy fish.

该宣言周三下午在《国际卫生法规》紧急委员会的建议下提出了这一建议，理由是戈马的发展与卢旺达接壤，并设有国际机场。

“除非国际社会立即加紧努力，否则我们将在很长一段时间内为这次爆发付费。”

总干事Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

The committee stressed, however, that the decision should not mean the closure of borders and travel routes, which it said would negatively impact the emergency response and local communities.

The committee had declined on three previous occasions to invoke a PHEIC – the WHO’s highest level of alarm – saying that it did not meet all the criteria.

Since the start of the outbreak in August 2018 there have been 17, 2019 reported cases and 1,698 deaths, according to figures from the Congolese Ministry of Health.

谁在日内瓦宣布这一消息说：“现在是时候让全世界注意并加倍努力了。我们需要与刚果民主共和国团结一起工作，以结束这次爆发并建立更好的health system.”

特德罗（Tedros）强调需要不受限制的运动，他说关闭边界只会鼓励人们使用未经监测的非正式过境，从而增加了传播疾病的风险。

他还指出，已经在边界和其他检查站进行了7500万埃博拉病毒筛查。

“Closing borders could have disastrous consequences for the lives and livelihoods of the people who cross the border every day for trade, education or to visit relatives,” he added.

Crisis costs

He said the PHEIC is not a measure intended to organise an international fundraiser, but about “preventing the international spread of disease”, adding that WHO is working to finalise a comprehensive strategic response plan and evaluate financial implications.

But he warned: “Unless the international community steps up and funds the response now, we will be paying for this outbreak for a long time to come.”

据世卫组织负责人说，预计战略响应计划将提供下一阶段响应所需的资源，该响应“将达到数亿美元”。

The international health regulations emergency committee also expressed disappointment at what Tedros called "funding delays that limited the response ".

宣布植物是一种特殊的措施，该措施仅是WHO的四次：2009年，在H1N1流感流行期间，2014年对脊髓灰质炎和埃博拉病毒的流行，西非丧生了11,300多人，2016年丧生寨卡病毒。

The decision was broadly welcomed by the scientific community. Josie Golding, epidemics lead at UK-based charitable foundation Wellcome, said it was the “right response”.

“A step-up in the response, led by the DRC and with full international support, is critical if we are to bring the epidemic to an end. This must include enhanced diplomatic, public health, security and logistic efforts as well as releasing much needed financial resources,” she said.

Countries must not wait for the Ebola virus to spread across borders or appear on their doorsteps before taking action, she added.

疫苗的紧迫性

在周三在日内瓦举行的新闻发布会上，该组织的卫生紧急计划执行董事迈克尔·瑞安（Michael Ryan）强调，加速疫苗的交付是WHO的回应的优先事项，这是在增加覆盖范围的持续压力下。

自去年以来，刚果民主共和国当局一直在用国际药品公司默克公司制造的实验疫苗RVSV-ZEBOV接种疫苗。

"We support the introduction of a second vaccine, as recommended by the SAGE [Strategic Advisory Group of Experts], subject to appropriate approvals at the national level," said Ryan.

The SAGE recommended an increase in the number of people eligible for the rVSV-ZEBOV innoculation and the introduction of new experimental vaccines, including MVA-BN, developed by Johnson & Johnson and the Chinese vaccine candidate Ad5-EBOV, developed by CanSino and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology in China.

刚果卫生部长Oly Ilunga Kalenga，在一个通函中SciDev.Net, said it was open to receiving proposals from experimental vaccine producers who would like to evaluate their vaccines in the DRC.

但是，他补充说：“考虑到当前使用的RVSV-ZEBOV-GP疫苗与其他没有相同证据的疫苗之间的混乱风险，交流问题以及混淆，使用任何其他疫苗针对埃博拉病毒北基沃和伊图里省禁止疾病。”

这篇文章最初是由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲法国桌子制作的，并为清晰而编辑。