Online Reporter
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Senior Health Reporter
President Mnangagwa today attended a high-level virtual African Union Summit convened by Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye as part of efforts to step up regional action to contain the Ebola outbreak.
The emergency meeting sought to mobilise political support for a coordinated US$518 million regional response plan following the declaration of the outbreak as a public health emergency.
The meeting was also attended by Democratic Republic of the Congo President Félix Tshisekedi, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, Botswana President Duma Boko, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, Eswatini Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, alongside health ministers, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation and other partners.
This comes as the outbreak, driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, has affected more than 800 people and claimed over 200 lives, with transmission concentrated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and spreading into neighbouring Uganda.
Leaders called for stronger cross-border surveillance, increased research, systematic disease control measures and greater international support to prevent further spread.
