Ebola outbreak in DR Congo passes 11,000 cases as UN warns insecurity hampering response
GENEVA/ACCRA, Nov. 13 – The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has passed 11,000 confirmed cases, United Nations health officials said on Friday, hailing progress in former hotspots but warning that rising insecurity is now the biggest obstacle to ending the epidemic.
Briefing journalists in Geneva six months after the outbreak was declared, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme, said more than 11,000 people had fallen ill and more than 5,400 had died, according to the UN Office at Geneva.
“We do see encouraging signs,” Dr Ihekweazu said, citing falling cases in Bunia in eastern DR Congo, according to Reuters. “But what we have seen now is the emergence of cases in more rural and more difficult-to-reach areas … The biggest challenge the response faces right now is the rising insecurity.”
He said the WHO had verified more than 80 attacks on health care in six months. “Violence restricts our access to people in need of help. It disrupts surveillance, it disrupts treatment and forces people to move, disrupting their access to care,” he said, according to UN News. Between 400 and 500 new cases are being reported each week, he added.
No approved vaccine for this strain
The outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus, for which there are no approved treatments or vaccines, Reuters reported. It is the second-worst Ebola outbreak on record and has spread to parts of east, central and west Africa, the news agency said. UN figures show children account for more than one-third of deaths.
Julien Harneis, the UN’s Senior Ebola Response Coordinator, said that in recent days more people had been killed in Ituri and North Kivu provinces by fighters of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) than by the virus. He said that out of US$2.2 billion requested in a June appeal, just over US$1.1 billion had been funded.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières has been more critical of the response, saying supplies are missing and the virus is still spreading out of control, Reuters reported.
Why it matters for Ghana
With cases now reported in parts of west Africa, the outbreak underlines the importance of disease surveillance at Ghana’s borders and health facilities. Members of the public are encouraged to rely on official information from the Ghana Health Service and the WHO rather than unverified social media posts.
Sources: UN Office at Geneva, UN News, Reuters.
Featured image: Transmission electron micrograph of an Ebola virus virion. Photo: CDC / Cynthia Goldsmith (public domain).
