African nations develop Ebola readiness plans as risk grows

For nine nations adjoining the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed that the threat of a dangerous Ebola spread is high at the regional level.

An outbreak of the disease has stricken the Congo since May, and though the WHO has resisted calling for travel or trade restrictions on the beleaguered nation, they have called for increased monitoring and preparedness by its neighbors. Because the public risk is high for the surrounding nations, WHO has broken down the region into three priority categories.

The top priority is the Congo itself and the Central Africa Republic, due to shared borders with the epicenter of the outbreak and continuous population movement across porous borders. The secondary priority category includes the nations of Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia, due to their links to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uganda is currently considered a lower priority, because, while it shares borders with the Congo, it has previously shown the ability to respond to outbreaks effectively.

The WHO is providing technical support to all those in need as they develop and pursue national contingency plans. Insufficient national prevention capacities and high movement of people exacerbate the troubles, but over nine months, the WHO Regional Strategic Plan for EVD Operational Readiness and Preparedness in Countries Neighboring the Democratic Republic of the Congo hopes to change this. Efforts are focused on strengthening coordination; surveillance; laboratory diagnostic capacity; points of entry; rapid response teams; risk communication, social mobilization and community engagement; case management and infection prevention and control capacities; and operational support and logistics.

Eight of the participating countries have already completed contingency plans.