(12 Aug 2014) The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the use of unproven anti-Ebola drugs in West Africa "ethical" on Tuesday, as long as the provision met certain criteria.
After holding a teleconference with medical experts around the world, the WHO declared it was ethical to use unproven Ebola drugs and vaccines in the current outbreak, but sidestepped the key question of how to decide who should get the limited drugs.
"The panellists said ethical criteria must always guide the provision of such intervention," Assistant Director-General of the WHO Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny told journalists in Geneva.
Adding, "I don't think that there could be any fair distribution of something (ZMapp) which is available in such a small quantity."
Two Americans and reportedly the Spanish priest who died from Ebola had received the experimental drug named ZMapp, which has never been tested in humans.
But the vast majority of Ebola victims have been Africans, and some have protested that their citizens are not getting access to the novel drugs.
The UN health agency says 1,013 people have died so far in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and authorities have recorded 1,848 suspected or confirmed cases.
The killer virus, spread by direct contact with bodily fluids like blood, diarrhoea and vomit, was detected in Guinea in March and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and possibly Nigeria.
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