Press Releases
Japan’s response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa
(Provision of Ebola test kits to Guinea)
1. With regard to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa, the Government of Japan, responding to requests from the Government of the Republic of Guinea, decided to provide Ebola test kits newly developed by Nagasaki University and Toshiba Corporation.
2. Dr. Jiro Yasuda, professor at Nagasaki University who developed a reagent for the Ebola test kit, as well as his colleague will be visiting Guinea from 22 April in order to offer Guinean officials technical trainings on the Ebola test kit.
3. The Government of Guinea declared on March 28 a reinforcement of emergency measures for a period of 45 days towards the end of the current Ebola outbreak. The Guinean Government, encouraged by the results of a field testing of the reagent carried out in March in the country by Nagasaki University, made emergency requests so that the Ebola test kit can be used for the ongoing reinforcement campaign. Given this background, the Government of Japan made the decision within the existing assistance package.