DR Congo Ebola outbreak now a Public Health Emergency, UN health agency declares.

The second worst Ebola outbreak of all time, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was officially declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Wednesday, with the head of the World Health Organization calling for countries to 'take notice and redouble our efforts'.

With the first anniversary of the complex outbreak in the volatile eastern part of the country looming, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it was time to 'work together in solidarity with the DRC to end this outbreak and build a better health system', for its people.

So far, there have been more than 2,500 cases of infection, and nearly 1,670 have died in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, where multiple armed groups and lack of local trust have hampered efforts to get the outbreak under control.

'Extraordinary work has been done for almost a year under the most difficult circumstances', said Mr. Tedros, following the fourth meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee assessing the outbreak, at the UN in Geneva. 'We all owe it to these responders - coming from not just WHO but also Government, partners and communities - to shoulder more of the burden', he added.

What does the emergency declaration mean?

According to WHO's International Health Regulations, which constitute a binding legal agreement involving 196 countries across the globe, a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is defined as, 'an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response'.

This definition implies a situation that is:

Serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected.

Carries implications for public health beyond the affected State's national border.

May require immediate international action.

According to a WHO statement, the Committee 'cited recent developments in the outbreak in making its recommendation, including the first confirmed case in Goma, a city of almost two million people on the border with Rwanda, and the gateway to the rest of DRC and the world.'

The Committee also...