Ebola outbreak: India has sent first tranche of medical supplies to Africa CDC, says MEA

India has sent its first tranche of medical supplies to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) amid the outbreak of Ebola in parts of the continent, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. 

On May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. 

At his weekly media briefing, external affairs ministry’s spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, was asked if India had sent any medical aid to Africa in the wake of the outbreak.  “On your question, about the help that we have sent, we have sent medical supplies to CDC Africa. This was handed over by our High Commissioner in Uganda to CDC office there. We look forward to further helping, in whatever manner we can, with the countries and with the CDC,” he said.

Africa CDC is a specialised technical institution of the African Union established in 2016 to support public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control and respond quickly to disease threats.   Africa CDC supports African Union member states in providing coordinated and integrated solutions to the inadequacies in their public health infrastructure, human resource capacity, and disease surveillance.  Jaiswal told reporters, “We will keep you updated as and when we have more developments on that account.” 

He was also asked if, following the postponement of the fourth India Africa Forum Summit, which was scheduled to be held late May in Delhi, any tentative timeline had been discussed to hold the summit at a later date. According to international media reports, the Congolese Government has confirmed over 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15.