In response to the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO)\ndeclaration of the Ebola Virus Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as\na Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) made on July 17,\n2019, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has activated its national Ebola\nVirus Disease Response Plan. Developed in 2014, the Response Plan is being\nactivated to increase awareness, educate stakeholders, and prepare the country\nfor any eventualities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Public Health Emergency of International Concern is an\nextraordinary event which has been determined, to constitute a public health\nrisk to other States through the international spread of disease; and to\npotentially require a coordinated international response. This implies a\nsituation that is serious, unusual or unexpected, carries implications for\npublic health beyond the affected State\u2019s national border and may require\nimmediate international action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this time, the WHO has indicated that though the risk had\nbeen high locally in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is now also high for\nthe region of Africa, the current global risk remains low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to the WHO declaration, the Ministry will be\nsensitizing all relevant categories of persons, including the members of the\nHealth Team, Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the public; heightening\nsurveillance activities at points of entry and scheduling sensitization\nsessions for healthcare workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health & Wellness Minister, Dr. Christopher Tufton\nspeaking in parliament noted that \u201cGiven the relatively robust surveillance and\nInfection Prevention and Control Practices in Jamaica, the public can be\nreassured that the current emergency response arrangements are in place to\nenable an appropriate response in the event of the introduction of the Ebola\nVirus Disease into the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Ministry will also be ensuring capacities for readiness\nwhich includes addressing stock levels of critical equipment and supplies,\nprotocols for specimen and patient transportation and reporting requirements,\u201d\nMinister Tufton added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In response to the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO) declaration of the Ebola Virus Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) made on July 17, 2019, the Ministry of Health and Wellness has activated its national Ebola Virus Disease Response Plan. Developed in 2014, the Response Plan is being activated to increase awareness, educate stakeholders, and prepare the country for any eventualities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1407,1403,1404,1405,1409,1408,1406],"class_list":["post-2570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-ebola","tag-ebola-response","tag-ebola-response-plan","tag-ministry-of-health-and-wellness","tag-public-health","tag-virus-outbreak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions\/2572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}