Treatment campaigns protect Ecuadorian communities

WHO announced a Public Health Emergency of International Concern after emergency committee advice.

The declaration called for international assistance to affected West African countries.

The response depended on local caregivers, safe care and contact tracing amid serious risks.

The declaration marked international concern; it was not the beginning or end of the outbreak.

WHO verified that Ecuador had eliminated transmission of human onchocerciasis.

Ecuador became the second country verified free of river blindness after Colombia.

The announcement recognized interrupted transmission, with monitoring still relevant.

WHO reports President Boni Yayi addressing the regional committee on this date during a debate on stronger health systems.

At the Cotonou meeting, Boni Yayi asked African countries to consider conventional and traditional medicine in health cooperation.

The 2014 regional health meeting considered inherited care within a broader call to strengthen systems facing epidemics.