Rwanda’s health minister Diane Gashumba met with her Congolese counterpart Pierre Kangudia Mbayi on Tuesday to discuss joint strategies of preventing the spread of Ebola.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing it’s tenth and largest ever Ebola outbreak, which was declared in August 2018. The outbreak has seen cases surpassing 2,500. It is also the second-biggest Ebola epidemic ever recorded, behind the West Africa outbreak of 2014-2016.

The World Health Organisation last month declared the DR Congo Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, calling for more measures to curb its spread.

The country’s neighbours, including Rwanda, have heightened their health alertness in a bid to prevent any spillovers of the disease into their borders.

The Rwandan and DR Congo health ministers’ meeting was held in Rwanda’s Rubavu district.

“They are here after our Minister invited them, to discuss joint strategies to prevent Ebola from spreading in our two countries as well as the region. He [Kangudia] is here with a big delegation that includes senior WHO officials now based in North Kivu.” Malick Kayumba, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health said.

The latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease has killed more than 1,800 people in the DR of Congo since it was announced in August 2018.