Kim Comer, emergency logistics coordinator for MSF, was in DRC this week overseeing construction of a new treatment center in Katwa, a neighborhood in the large city of Butembo. It’s better like that they know what they want in terms of their setup, the way they do their clinical management or care,” he said, noting this is especially true for the main medical NGOs that operate the Ebola treatment centers, ALIMA and Doctors Without Borders, which is known by the acronym for the French version of the name, MSF. “Some of the partners, they have their own setup. The effort involved in sourcing all these necessities of work and life so that the Ebola responders can work on issues of life and death are divvied up among different partners in the response, Molinaro told STAT. They all need accommodations, meals, medical equipment, power generators, structures in which to care for the sick, vehicles in which to move from town to town, satellite phones or cellphone SIM cards, and more - much more. In addition to the WHO, there are several dozen international agencies and non-governmental organizations assisting the Congolese government in the battle to end this outbreak. As of Wednesday there have been 549 cases and 326 deaths since the outbreak began, likely in late April. Molinaro’s crew is supporting the upward of 300 people working for the WHO in northeastern Congo to extinguish this latest Ebola outbreak, which is now the second largest in history. When the right equipment is in the right place and in the right amounts, it “seems like magic,” Molinaro said. Exclusive analysis of biotech, pharma, and the life sciences Learn More

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