WHO Director Tedros Calls for Ceasefire by Warring Parties Over Ebola Outbreak in Congo

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on all parties sustaining conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to declare a ceasefire in order to bring the Ebola outbreak still affecting the country under control. According to the Anadolu Agency, Tedros stated that armed groups are blocking health teams' access to the affected areas and this situation is seriously hampering efforts to combat the outbreak.

Years of armed conflict in the eastern DRC have repeatedly forced the WHO and other humanitarian organizations to suspend their field operations. The scale of the current Ebola wave and casualty figures have not yet been updated by the WHO. However, the international spread risk of the outbreak continues to rank high on the agenda of global health authorities.