Infectious diseases such as hantavirus and Ebola becoming more frequent and damaging, say experts

"The world is becoming less resilient to outbreaks of infectious diseases, experts have warned, as health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda scramble to contain an outbreak of Ebola. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) said in a report published on Monday that as infectious disease outbreaks become more frequent they are also becoming more damaging, warning that pandemic risk is outpacing investments in preparedness and the world is not yet meaningfully safer."

"Disease outbreaks are becoming more likely due to the climate crisis and armed conflict, while collective action is being undermined by geopolitical fragmentation and commercial self-interest, the report said. The GPMB is a group of experts established in 2018 by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) after the first large scale Ebola outbreak in west Africa and just before Covid-19."

"WHO's representative in the DRC, Anne Ancia, told Reuters that in responding to the Ebola outbreak it had emptied its stocks of protective equipment in the capital, Kinshasa, and was preparing a cargo plane to bring additional supplies from a depot in Kenya. The International Rescue Committee and Medecins Sans Frontieres aid groups said they had teams responding to the outbreak."

"The two outbreaks are just the latest crises in our troubled world, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the UN agency's World Health Assembly in Geneva. In Geneva, Prof Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy & Po"

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda are working to contain an Ebola outbreak. A Global Preparedness Monitoring Board report warns that outbreaks are becoming more damaging as they become more frequent, and that pandemic risk is growing faster than preparedness investment. The report links increased outbreak likelihood to the climate crisis and armed conflict. It also cites weakened collective action due to geopolitical fragmentation and commercial self-interest. The warning comes alongside global attention to a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and a newly declared international public health emergency after Ebola deaths in the DRC. In the DRC, protective equipment stocks in Kinshasa have been depleted, and additional supplies are being arranged from Kenya, while aid organizations deploy response teams.

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