Health ministers from the Southern African Development Community, SADC, have committed themselves to training health workers in aspects of Ebola response, in order to address the prevention and control of the deadly virus. The commitment was made during the SADC health ministers one-day emergency meeting on the virus, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday. A statement issued by the SADC Secretariat in Botswana on Thursday said the meeting decided to mobilise relevant government sectors and community, religious and political leaders to work together to increase awareness and understanding of the Ebola situation. This is to ensure optimum preparedness and response. The health ministers also decided to identify and commit additional domestic financial resources to support outbreak preparedness; organise cross-border consultations to facilitate exchange of information and agree on joint collaborative action. They further decided to strengthen surveillance and detection, reporting and contact tracing, as well as sharing of information on the Ebola virus with the World Health Organisation in a timely manner. Other decisions taken during the meeting include building and strengthening International Health Regulation core capacities, especially those needed to respond to serious public health events. The SADC health ministers, in addition, decided to identify health facilities to be used during such events that have to be equipped with all appropriate equipment based on WHO guidelines. Namibias Minister of Health and Social Services, Richard Kamwi also attended the meeting which brought together 15 SADC ministers of health and key stakeholders. The main aim was to reach consensus on appropriate strategic actions to prevent the introduction or spread of the Ebola virus in the SADC Region.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 06:37:03 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015