Southern African nations plan to hold talks on how best to respond to Ebola if it broke out in the region, the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Tuesday.
Zambia's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health David Chikamata said plans to hold talks with other neighboring countries are currently underway on how to tackle the deadly disease which has ravaged the Western part of Africa.
"We plan to have inter-country meetings with Zimbabwe and Malawi to discuss how we can deal with Ebola," he was quoted as saying by the paper.
Holding discussions, he said, was cardinal because this will allow countries to share ideas on how to tackle the killer disease.
The official could however not disclose when the talks are expected to commence.
Zambia has put in place intervention and prevention measures since the outbreak of the disease which has claimed thousands of lives in West Africa such as surveillance measures at all entry points.
The government has also trained health personnel in various parts of the country on how to identify, contain and respond to cases of Ebola.
The disease has killed more than 800 people in West Africa.
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2014) |