from FATOUMATA DIAKITE in Conakry, Guinea
CONAKRY, (CAJ News) – THERE is a collective sigh of relief at the declaration of the end of the Ebola epidemic in Guinea.
The West African country was officially declared Ebola-Free on Saturday, having passed the mandatory 42-day period with no new confirmed or probable cases.
“This is an impressive milestone,” said United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regional director for West and Central Africa, Marie Pierre Poirier.
“I commend the government for their leadership, and communities and partners for their strong engagement in confronting the epidemic. As UNICEF, we are proud to have been part of the intensive, collaborative effort to help bring the Ebola outbreak to an end in Guinea.”
On February 14, 2021 the Guinean government declared an outbreak of Ebola disease in the N’Zérékoré region in the south-east region, near the Liberia and Ivory Coast borders.
A total of 16 confirmed and seven probable cases were reported in Guinea’s latest outbreak, in which 11 patients survived and 12 lives lost.
“I commend the affected communities, the government and people of Guinea, health workers, partners and everyone else whose dedicated efforts made it possible to contain this Ebola outbreak,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General.
Based on the lessons learned from the 2014–16 outbreak and through rapid, coordinated response efforts, community engagement, effective public health measures and the equitable use of vaccines, Guinea managed to control the outbreak and prevent its spread beyond its borders.
More than 11 000 people died from that outbreak, the worst eruption of the virus in history.
– CAJ News