Thank you, Professor Steffen,
Good evening everyone in the room, and to everyone online.
First of all, I’d like to thank Professor Steffen once again for his leadership of the Emergency Committee, and all the members of the committee, the advisors, and those who made presentations earlier today.
The Emergency Committee has recommended that the current Ebola outbreak continues to pose a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice. The public health emergency of international concern will be maintained for an additional three months, and the Emergency Committee will be reconvened in three months.
This remains a complex and dangerous outbreak. We need the full force of all partners to bring this outbreak under control and to meet the needs of the people affected.
However, we should all be pleased with the very impressive progress we have made since the committee last met.
One of the concerns with declaring a PHEIC is that some countries may impose unnecessary restrictions on travel and trade.
We’re very pleased to note that so far, no country has done that.
After the declaration of the PHEIC, we implemented a 90-day plan to accelerate our response.
Together with our partners, we have expanded screening and contact tracing, strengthened infection prevention and control, and intensified preparedness efforts in neighbouring countries.
We have also adapted security measures to protect health workers while improving community trust, and deployed a new data collection tool.
We have implemented several new vaccination strategies, which have resulted in doubling the existing vaccine supply, allowing for more than 230 000 people to be vaccinated.
So far, these efforts are working.
We have contained Ebola in former hotspots such as Beni, and successfully prevented onward transmission in Goma and Uganda.
The number of cases has declined each week for the past four weeks. Last week there were just 15 cases, compared with the peak of 126 cases during one week in April.
But these encouraging trends should be interpreted with caution.
Although the outbreak is now concentrated in a smaller geographic area, that area is more rural and difficult to reach.
We must treat every case as if it is the first, because every single case has the potential to spark a new and bigger outbreak.
We’re actually continuing to increase our efforts. Until we reach zero cases, we are in full response mode.
Security continues to be a major concern. We cannot end this outbreak without a conducive environment in which health workers can safely access the people who need their help.
The risk of spread within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to neighbouring countries remains very high.
And we continue to face funding constraints.
So far, we have received half of the money needed to maintain response efforts to this outbreak. That puts health security across the globe at risk.
In addition, funding for preparedness in surrounding countries is grossly inadequate.
This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand. If we fail to prepare, we are preparing to fail.
We must fix the roof before the rain comes.
And even as we focus our efforts on ending the outbreak, we must all see the bigger picture.
Although it preoccupies the world’s media, Ebola is just one of numerous threats that the people of North Kivu face, every day. Malaria and measles kill more than Ebola.
WHO’s commitment is to supporting the Democratic Republic of the Congo to strengthen its health system, as the foundation of a healthier, safer and fairer Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Finally, I want to thank all the brave Congolese responders, partners and WHO colleagues, who continue to put their lives on the line every single day.
We owe it to them, and to the people they serve, to devote ourselves to ending this outbreak as soon as possible.
Thank you very much.