The United Nations (UN) has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to spread, with nearly 3,500 deaths recorded despite efforts to contain the deadly virus.
UN Special Ebola Coordinator, Julien Harneis, raised the alarm on Tuesday while calling for increased international support for health workers and humanitarian responders on the ground.
“If we don’t have the resources, the epidemic will come back… it remains a deadly and massive epidemic,” Harneis said.
The latest data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on September 12 showed that 7,200 Ebola cases had been reported, with close to 3,500 deaths across 62 health zones.
The virus has now spread to seven provinces, covering what WHO described as a “very vast geographic area.”
Dr Olivier le Polain, Unit Head for Epidemiology and Analytics for Response at WHO, said the outbreak was continuing to expand despite the scale of the response.
“Although the response has been unprecedented in its scale, the epidemic continues to expand,” he said.
Insecurity, Poor Roads Hamper Response
UN agencies, government authorities and humanitarian partners have been working to contain the Ebola Bundibugyo virus outbreak since the emergency was declared in mid-May.
However, responders are facing major challenges in regions affected by years of violent insecurity, poor infrastructure and development setbacks.
Harneis said difficult road conditions were making it hard for humanitarian teams to reach affected communities.
“In many areas, the roads are massive potholes – not even potholes – trucks disappear into the mud,” he said.
He added that access by small aircraft was also difficult in some areas, while humanitarian workers had faced violence.
“We have cases in Bunia, in Ituri and in the far other end of the country in Sud-Ubangi, that is like a distance from Geneva to Dublin,” Harneis said.
$1.3bn Humanitarian Plan Underfunded
Harneis said the $1.3 billion humanitarian response plan was only 49 per cent funded, warning that the funding gap could undermine efforts to contain the outbreak.
According to the UN official, Ebola is also worsening existing humanitarian challenges across the DRC, including hunger, declining attendance at health centres, rising maternal mortality and disruptions to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.
“We’ve done a lot of positive work through the scaling up [of] bed capacity, but unless we get more specialised medical care, we will eventually come to a plateau,” Harneis said.
He urged countries to immediately deploy international emergency medical teams and provide the technical and financial resources needed to sustain the response.
“If you don’t provide the care, if you don’t finance the care, if you don’t provide the technical resources, then Ebola is a live enemy and will come back at us,” he warned.
Harneis said an additional $1 billion would be needed to sustain the response beyond the first six months.
“There’s been some indication from Member States that they might be prepared to send those teams, but we need a far greater support and dedication of those resources,” he added.
WHO Warns of Rising Cases in North Kivu
WHO’s le Polain said the outbreak was unfolding in areas already facing significant humanitarian needs and could take many months to bring fully under control.
He said while infections were declining in some areas, cases were rising rapidly in others.
In North Kivu, weekly cases have doubled from about 100 to 200, according to the WHO official.
“We’re worried about particularly Butembo and Katwa,” le Polain said, referring to a major axis in the northern part of North Kivu.
Health authorities and humanitarian organisations are continuing efforts to contain the outbreak, but UN officials say sustained international funding, medical expertise and emergency response teams will be critical to bringing the epidemic under control.
