UN launches multi-partner trust fund for Zika virus response
The Fund, which aims to provide a rapid, flexible and accountable platform to support a coordinated response from the UN system and partners, will directly support the Zika Strategic Response Framework, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in consultation with UN agencies, partners and international epidemiological experts.
Donors will contribute to a central point and an Advisory Committee will direct funds to the highest-priority activities in the affected countries.
Since January 2015, 61 countries and territories have reported local transmission of Zika, which is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes. The recent rise in the spread of the virus in some countries has been accompanied by an unprecedented rise in the number of children being born with unusually small heads – identified as microcephaly. Several countries have also reported an increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome – a neurological disorder that can lead to paralysis and death.
On 1 February, WHO announced that the cluster of cases of microcephaly and other neurological disorders, in particular Guillain-Barré syndrome, constituted a public health emergency of international concern. There is now scientific consensus that the Zika virus is linked to severe fetal malformations and serious disorders of the central nervous system and is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The Zika Strategic Response Framework aims to investigate and respond to the cluster of microcephaly and other neurological complications linked to Zika virus, increase preventive measures, communicate risks, and provide care and support to those affected.
Photo: UNICEF/Ueslei Marcelino
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
