The story so far : On May 16, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, a ‘public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Just ahead of that, the Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare, DRC, and the Uganda Ministry of Health declared the outbreak of Ebola.

A PHEIC is the WHO’s highest level of global health alert, formally declared under the International Health Regulations, whenever the health event is serious, sudden, unexpected or unusual, and poses a public health risk to other countries through spread. The declaration of the PHEIC also calls for a co-ordinated global response to tackle the current outbreak.