Response Is Definitely Getting Better On Ebola, WHO Assistant Director

World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said "the response is definitely getting better, there has been a step change over the last four to eight weeks in the response."

Speaking today (4 Aug) to reporters in Geneva, Aylward stressed "we have gone over the last four weeks from 30 cases, to 25, to seven and then in the last week, two cases. That progress is real and I think that would be the main point to share."

He added, "the big shift has been in the area of the case investigation, where now they are systematically using anthropologists to help understand what is driving some of the transmission chains, and also genetic sequencing to help us understand some of the transmission chains as well."

Aylward also said, "in the area of the contact tracing there is a huge shift now from really what before was a reporting on how many of the contact were being seen daily to who are the missing contacts and now phenomenal national and sometimes international effort to find every single missing contact, they know the names of these people, they know their families, really trying to interact, work with them to ensure that there are no missing contacts."

He reiterated that the response is getting better, however he noted that there will be additional flares before it gets stopped, adding that it all depends on the ability to find those missing contacts, ensure they are rapidly and appropriately managed.

Aylward explained that in Phase III, WHO is looking at two big efforts.

One is to define and stop the remaining transmission chains. The second part is to ensure to manage any residual risk associated with a risk of re-emergence of the disease and also deal with the care and support of survivors.

The WHO expert also underlined, "Zero is an achievable goal in the near term, there is no question about that, but there are a lot of hazards between here and there. A lot of rain. Still a lot of missing contacts who are moving around. And still real challenges in ensuring the community is fully engaged to get this stopped."
STORY: WHO / EBOLA UPDATE PRESSER
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 04 AUGUST 2015, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:    

RECENT – GENEVA

1.Wide shot, exterior World Health Organization building

04 AUGUST 2015, GENEVA

2. Wide shot, presser
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative of the WHO Director-General for the Ebola Response:
"The response is definitely getting better, there has been a step change over the last four to eight weeks in the response."
4. Cutaway, reporter
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative of the WHO Director-General for the Ebola Response:
"When you look at the epidemiology, this is the another of these impossible graphs I wanted to show you, this shows you the cases for 2015 in this response and you can see where we had that steep fall earlier in the year, and then we have this flat plateau which has been so frustrating and demoralizing for so many people, from a distance and people starting to ask questions that I think are outright unacceptable, like talking about endemic Ebola, but as you can see now, there has been a downturn in this graphic over the last month. We have gone over the last four weeks from 30 cases, to 25, to seven and then in the last week, two cases. That progress is real and I think that would be the main point to share."
6. Cutaway, reporter
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative of the WHO Director-General for the Ebola Response:
"The big shift has been in the area of the case investigation, where now they are systematically using anthropologists to help understand what is driving some of the transmission chains, and also genetic sequencing to help us understand some of the transmission chains as well. Then in the area of the contact tracing there is a huge shift now from really what before was a reporting on how many of the contact were being seen daily to who are the missing contacts and now phenomenal national and sometimes international effort to find every single missing contact, they know the names of these people, they know their families, really trying to interact, work with them to ensure that there are no missing contacts."
8. Cutaway, reporters
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Bruce Aylward, Special Representative of the WHO Director-General for the Ebola Response:
"Zero is an achievable goal in the near term, there is no question about that, but there are a lot of hazards between here and there. A lot of rain. Still a lot of missing contacts who are moving around. And still real challenges in ensuring the community is fully engaged to get this stopped."
10. Cutaway, presser
DURATION: 02:17