Ebola responders grapple with expanding outbreak in Congo

Key points

• 7,200 Ebola cases and nearly 3,500 deaths were reported
• The outbreak spread across two time zones
• Insecurity, poor road conditions, and funding gaps hamper disaster response efforts
• Weekly cases have doubled in some parts of North Kivu

“If we don’t have the resources, this epidemic will come back… it remains a deadly and massive epidemic,” stressed Julien Harneis, UN Special Officer Ebola Coordinator.

The latest data on September 12 shows 7,200 Ebola cases reported and nearly 3,500 deaths across 62 health zones, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The virus is now present in seven provinces “covering a very wide geographical area”, said Dr Olivier le Polain, Head of the Epidemiology and Analysis for Response Unit at WHO.

“Despite the unprecedented response, the epidemic continues to grow.”

Working with authorities, UN agencies and partners have helped contain the Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak since a state of emergency was declared in mid-May.

But there are major challenges in working in a resource-rich region, where the population has experienced insecurity due to violence and development setbacks for decades.

Hard to reach

“[In] in many areas, the roads have huge potholes – not even potholes – trucks disappear into the mud; [in] In many areas, access, even by small aircraft, is complicated. And then there was violence to that response,” Mr. Harneis explained.

“We have cases in Bunia, in Ituri and at the other end of the country in Sud-Ubangi, namely like the distance from Geneva to Dublin.”

The veteran aid coordinator warned that the $1.3 billion humanitarian response was only 49 percent funded, while Ebola “made things worse for all Congolese, “from worsening hunger levels to declining health center attendance, rising maternal mortality rates” and halting treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.

“We have done a lot of positive things through increasing bed capacity, but unless we get more specialized medical care, we will eventually reach a plateau,” Harneis continued, stressing the need for countries to immediately deploy international emergency medical teams.

‘Live enemy’

“If you don’t provide services, if you don’t fund treatment, if you don’t provide technical resources, then Ebola is the real enemy and it will come back to attack us.,” he warned, adding that an additional $1 billion would be needed to sustain the response beyond the first six months.

“There are some indications from Member States that they may be ready to send such teams, but we need much greater support and dedication of resources.”

Ebola outbreaks continue to occur in areas in dire need of humanitarian assistance and it will take “many months to fully control the outbreak”, stressed WHO’s Dr le Polain.

The epidemiologist described how infections started to decline in some areas, but rose “exponentially” in others, including North Kivu, where the number of weekly cases has now doubled, from around 100 to 200 cases. “We are particularly concerned about Butembo and Katwa”, which are the main northern axis of North Kivu, the WHO official explained.