DRC health minister resigns after government takes Ebola reins

In a development likely to further roil the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) already difficult battle against Ebola, the country’s health minister resigned today following the president’s decision over the weekend to put outbreak leadership in the hands of a government expert committee.

In a statement released on Twitter on Jul 20, the DRC president’s cabinet director said the Ebola outbreak response is now under the direct supervision of the president and a multisectoral expert committee led by Jean Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, PhD, a virologist who leads the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research.

The move happens as the country confirmed 46 new cases in recent days.