Congo: Efforts are increasing as the Ebola outbreak moves beyond the country’s borders

As of June 17, 896 confirmed cases and 232 deaths have been reported across 31 health zones in the country, with Uganda confirming 19 cases and two deaths, according to the report latest updates released on Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

To safely deliver life-saving aid, WHO chief Tedros called a ceasefire last month amid decades-long clashes between Congolese authorities and the M23 armed group in eastern DRC, where more than two million forcibly displaced people – including more than 320,000 refugees – live and Ebola continues to spread.

Now, the risks are regional, Dr. Allen Maina of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) saidnotes that the eastern DRC flanks a region where trade, family ties, and refugee movements link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and South Sudan.

Disease and armed conflict

Therefore, UNHCR is strengthening preparedness in these countries, working with governments, WHO and partners to strengthen surveillance, screening, infection prevention, communication and water, sanitation and hygiene support in refugee holding areas and border corridors.

“We aim to prevent further cross-border transmission without preventing people from seeking safetyhe said.

One example of this occurred on June 7, he said, when UNHCR monitored the arrival of around 2,250 people from Mbau, 20 km from Beni, one of the outbreak centers, after the movement of armed groups sparked panic and caused them to flee to Oicha, North Kivu, an Ebola-affected zone that has hosted more than 14,300 refugees.

Frontline emergency services

More than 115 UN health agency experts have been deployed across affected provinces, with more than 110 metric tonnes of emergency supplies delivered to support frontline operations, said WHO interim regional emergency director Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire from Bunia, Congo.

Diagnostic and treatment capacity continues to increase, but access constraints continue to limit operations in some high-risk areas, he warned.

“One month after this outbreak was declared, the situation remains serious and continues to evolve,” he said. “Cases continue to be reported in various regions, underscoring the need to maintain and accelerate response efforts.”

Over one million plays

The Ebola outbreak is occurring in one of the continent’s most active cross-border regions, where thousands of people move every day in search of safety, jobs, health services and connections with their families, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“Understanding human mobility patterns is one of our strongest tools to stop the spread of disease,” said an IOM spokesperson, announcing that the UN agency had done so over one million plays to date and began ramping up operations in Congo and neighboring Uganda on Friday.

Screening is underway at borders and along key routes and travel corridors in affected and at-risk countries, including support at more than 110 entry points, said IOM senior migration health advisor Kit Leung.

The death rate among pregnant women reaches 90 percent

The death rate among pregnant women infected with Ebola is as high as 90 percent, and perinatal (the period before or after birth) deaths have reached 100 percent in some places, according to the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health. UNFPA.

“This epidemic is also a health emergencies and maternal protection for women and girls,” said UNFPA country representative Noemi Dalmonte, speaking from the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

As part of the broader Ebola response, the agency is focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, gender-based violence and building community trust, deploying 153 midwives in eastern Congo to help ensure safe births, emergency obstetric care and postnatal care, and further deployments are planned, it said.

Encourage emergency funding

Several UN agencies are calling for urgent funding to help them continue to tackle the Ebola outbreak on the ground:

• UNFPA’s urgent request for $17.1 million to maintain life-saving sexual and reproductive health services in Congo
• As part of an inter-agency effort, UNHCR is working $14 million for Ebola preparedness and response from July to November to assist forced refugees and their host communities in Congo and Uganda while strengthening preparedness in Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan
• The United Nations in Uganda, together with humanitarian partners, has done this launched an emergency appeal of $15.8 million to support the country’s national response