Kenya is on high alert as several governments, including the UK and the U.S., registered their concerns over the high risks of an Ebola outbreak in South Sudan on Thursday, November 12.
In a statement shared with Kenyans.co.ke, the embassies of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. said they are "concerned over an outbreak in South Sudan".
Although South Sudan is yet to record a case of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) maintains that the country faces a 99 per cent risk of virus importation due to ongoing transmission in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The two countries share a border, stretching about 813 kilometres, and the South Sudan border is directly adjacent to areas experiencing an active Ebola outbreak.
As of November 9, confirmed cases of the disease in DRC surpassed 10,900.
“These risks give even greater urgency to the need for South Sudan’s leaders to start using South Sudan’s public revenue to fund the health sector, including the salaries of public health workers,” the embassies said in a joint statement.
Adding, “It also gives greater urgency to our calls for South Sudan’s leaders to support full access throughout the country for organisations providing assistance to South Sudanese people in need.”
