Congo Health Minister Quits Over Interference in Ebola Response
Congo Health Minister Quits Over Interference in Ebola Response
(Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo’s health minister has resigned in protest at the presidency’s decision to take control of the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Central African nation.
Oly Ilunga’s departure comes less than a week after the World Health Organization declared the second-deadliest outbreak of Ebola virus in history an international public health emergency.
“Following the decision from the presidency to manage the epidemic at its level, I have tendered in my resignation as Minister of Health,” Ilunga said in a statement Monday.
He described the decision as “interference” and also criticized the “strong pressure” to use a new vaccine in the fight against the virus. “The vaccine that’s currently being used in this epidemic is the only one that has proven to be effective and that gives immunity protection within 10 days,” Ilunjga said in his resignation letter.
The outbreak, which began a year ago, has already killed more than 1,700 people and more than 2,500 have been infected. It is the worst since the 2014-2016 epidemic that killed about 11,000 people and spread outside the continent for the first time.
Ebola is a contagious virus that can cause massive internal bleeding from multi-organ failure and shock; about half of infected people die.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Hilton Shone at hshone@bloomberg.net, Andre Janse van Vuuren
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