The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) requires significant investment into its health sector for the sake of global health security, Dr. Mike Ryan, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergencies on the Ebola response in the DRC, said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2018) The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) requires significant investment into its health sector for the sake of global health security, Dr. Mike Ryan, the assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergencies on the Ebola response in the DRC, said on Thursday.
"This country requires a massive investment in its health system and not just because of protecting the Congolese, but also [because of] protecting the world. Congo is one of the zones with the highest biodiversity in the world, it has a lot of population movement, it has a lot of insecurity, and it has a weak health system, and in that sense we must invest in that system," Ryan said at a press conference.
According to Ryan, increased investment in the DRC's health system will be "the smart thing to do" in terms of both humanitarian and global health security perspectives.
"If we want to stop the disease, we should stop it on the site it occurs and not wait, like in West Africa, for it to spread from country to country," Ryan said.
On August 1, the DRC Health Ministry declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease in North Kivu Province. According to the WHO, there were a total of 85 confirmed Ebola cases as of August 28.
