Public Health Emergency at Points of Entry

Dear Colleagues,

This is interesting, albeit tragic news concerning the above vessel. Various websites including vesselfinder.com are reporting that 2 crew died and 13 were hospitalised following a suspected food poisoning on the Polish owned MV Nefryt while in port in the Ivory Coast. No related news has been posted by WHO but it may come through in the future via various disease outbreak news sources.  I thought it worth sharing with colleagues to highlight what can go wrong on-board vessels.

Dear colleagues and friends,

The current Ebola outbreak remains the world's largest and deadliest to date. It goes without saying that it has put a huge strain on the health system in some countries and has challenged some others. Even the report of the first meeting of the review committee on the role of the IHR in the Ebola outbreak and response (Geneva, 24-25 August 2015) underlines that “The Ebola outbreak offers the best chance for transforming the global response to health emergencies”.