About 30 countries have health systems that are as dangerously weak as the ones that allowed Ebola to ravage Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the World Health Organization warned.
The UN health agency stressed the urgency of learning the lessons drawn from the outbreak that has killed more than 11,100 people in West Africa, calling for strengthening health systems so they can rapidly detect and counter looming disasters.
People around the World consume more salt than Physiologically Necessary: WHO
Rats fed on a high salt diet (equivalent to 4 times the recommended daily allowance for humans) had a significant delay in reaching puberty compared to others.
Advertisement
"We must reverse the trend in global health where we wait for the fire to flare up, run to put it out but then forget to fireproof the building," said senior WHO official Ruediger Krech.
The world, he told reporters, had to create a health system "built to withstand shocks whether from an outbreak like Ebola, a natural disaster or a financial crisis."
![Kenya Lifts Travel Ban from Liberia After It was Declared Ebola-Free by WHO]( "Kenya Lifts Travel Ban from Liberia After It was Declared Ebola-Free by WHO")
However, Doctors Without Borders has urged the government to be cautious until the disease is completely extinguished in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The fragile health systems in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, weakened by conflict and poverty, were an important factor in Ebola's rapid spread through the three countries last year.
And Krech said at least 28 other countries worldwide, mainly in Africa, but also in Asia and Latin America, had similarly weak systems.
The list includes Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Burundi, Sudan, Afghanistan and Haiti.
"So our work will not be limited to west Africa," he said.
The Ebola outbreak began in late 2013 in Guinea, but was permitted to spread silently for three months before the WHO and the region raised the alarm.
The crisis sparked a global health scare, with the humanitarian response especially gaining momentum once stray cases were detected in the United States and some European countries.
Liberia, once the worst-hit country, was declared Ebola-free on May 9. But Krech said the crisis was far from over in the two neighboring countries and refused to give a timeframe for them to acquire a similar status.
On Wednesday, the WHO's annual decision-making assembly approved a significant hike in its budget for 2016-17 to among other things help strengthen health systems in West Africa and elsewhere.
Just pouring in money will not fix the problem, Krech warned, adding that "corruption is rife in many countries." "The elephant in the room" in many nations with poor health systems is endemic corruption and a lack of transparency of how funds are spent in key sectors such as health, he said.
"To further complicate things, the private health sector in many countries in unregulated," he said.
Source: AFP
Kenya Lifts Travel Ban from Liberia After It was Declared Ebola-Free by WHO
However, Doctors Without Borders has urged the government to be cautious until the disease is completely extinguished in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Advertisement
The fragile health systems in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, weakened by conflict and poverty, were an important factor in Ebola's rapid spread through the three countries last year.
And Krech said at least 28 other countries worldwide, mainly in Africa, but also in Asia and Latin America, had similarly weak systems.
The list includes Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Burundi, Sudan, Afghanistan and Haiti.
"So our work will not be limited to west Africa," he said.
The Ebola outbreak began in late 2013 in Guinea, but was permitted to spread silently for three months before the WHO and the region raised the alarm.
The crisis sparked a global health scare, with the humanitarian response especially gaining momentum once stray cases were detected in the United States and some European countries.
Liberia, once the worst-hit country, was declared Ebola-free on May 9. But Krech said the crisis was far from over in the two neighboring countries and refused to give a timeframe for them to acquire a similar status.
On Wednesday, the WHO's annual decision-making assembly approved a significant hike in its budget for 2016-17 to among other things help strengthen health systems in West Africa and elsewhere.
Just pouring in money will not fix the problem, Krech warned, adding that "corruption is rife in many countries." "The elephant in the room" in many nations with poor health systems is endemic corruption and a lack of transparency of how funds are spent in key sectors such as health, he said.
"To further complicate things, the private health sector in many countries in unregulated," he said.
Source: AFP
Italy Quarantines 13 Relatives of a Nurse Who was Infected With Ebola
As a precautionary measure, 13 relatives of the nurse were held in quarantine, while three Sardinian ambulance workers who drove the nurse are also being monitored.
Advertisement
Chilean Teenager With Cystic Fibrosis Who Asked for Euthanasia on YouTube Passes Away
Valentina Maureira died on May 14 due to complications from the genetic disorder, which attacks the lungs and other organs.
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest General Health News
Over 300 people had fallen sick with illness caused by Norovirus on a US cruise ship, say authorities.
Ex-smokers in Wakefield have shared their stories to encourage others to give up cigarettes on No Smoking Day 2023 which falls on 8th March.
Total levels of m6A in the nervous system rise with age and that (some) neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by RNA hypermethylation.
New study provides insights into the impact of early-life adversity on brain development and on control of reward behaviors that underlie emotional disorders
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia signed a formal memorandum of understanding (MOU) that will expand access to essential diagnostics in the country.
