Tanzania reacts to WHO rebuke over silence about ebola outbreak
Tanzania has summoned the local representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) after the United Nations’ health agency accused the government of failing to share detailed information on suspected ebola cases.
Hassan Abbasi, Tanzania’s government spokesperson, said on Twitter yesterday “the government has summoned the representative of the World Health Organisation in the country to seek in-depth details from the agency on reports circulating in the media”.
In a pointed rebuke, WHO said in a statement late on Saturday it was made aware on September 10 of the death of a patient in Dar es Salaam, and was unofficially told the next day that the person tested positive for ebola. The woman had died on September 8.
“Identified contacts of the deceased were unofficially reported to be quarantined in various sites in the country,” the statement said.
WHO said it was unofficially told that Tanzania had two other possible ebola cases. One had tested negative and there was no information on the other. Despite several requests, “clinical data, results of the investigations, possible contacts and potential laboratory tests performed ... have not been communicated to WHO”, the UN agency said on Saturday. “The limited available official information from Tanzanian authorities represents a challenge,” it said.
The Tanzanian government formally informed WHO on September 14 it had no confirmed or suspected cases of ebola.
It did not address the death of the woman directly and did not provide further information.
Authorities in east and central Africa have been on high alert for possible spillovers of ebola from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a 13-month outbreak has killed more than 2 000 people.
WHO was criticised during West Africa’s 2014-2016 ebola epidemic, which claimed more than 11 300 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, for not moving more quickly to contain the outbreak. – News24 Wire
The limited information represents a challenge