The head of the World Health Organization has called for greater international solidarity to combat the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as he arrived in the eastern province worst-hit by the severe outbreak.
UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, that the international community was already helping the DRC government manage the outbreak, reports RTE.
But he added that “community ownership” was also needed — including overcoming “mistrust” and false information — as well as increased financial support from other countries.
“We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help,” he said, reports RTE.
“You’re not alone in this. We’re here, we’re with you, and we will see this through together,” he told people in Ituri at a later press conference.
The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, reports RTE.
There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, including 246 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been nine confirmed infections in Uganda, including one death.
The true scale of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to have been circulating before it was formally detected, is likely to be much wider, the WHO has warned, reports RTE.
The vast, impoverished central African country — whose mineral-rich east has been plagued by three decades of conflict — has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.
Uganda closed its border with the DRC this week and ordered a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from that country, reports RTE.
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On Friday, the WHO announced that a patient had recovered, left hospital and been discharged into the community after two negative tests — what the organisation described as a first among confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak.
Ebola, which spreads through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years, reports RTE.
The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said of the latest outbreak that “never has an Ebola epidemic recorded so many cases in the first days after it being declared,” adding that there were not enough medical experts deployed in the afflicted region, reports RTE.
“Two weeks after the declaration of the Ebola disease outbreak in Ituri Province, the situation is deeply alarming and a legitimate source of anxiety for communities and frontline health workers alike,” the charity said.
State services are largely absent in Ituri province, where access is made more difficult by the presence of armed groups and militias, reports RTE.
“There is experience in this country and under the government’s leadership, and especially with community ownership, we can stop it,” said Dr Tedros.
“These are the ingredients which are important, of course, with the support from the international community as well. So the issue is in our hands.”
“If we do our best, it can be stopped,” he added, reports RTE.
No vaccine or specific treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola behind the current outbreak, though the head of CDC Africa said a vaccine should be ready before the end of the year.
The WHO said its experts had considered several potential vaccines considered “promising enough” to warrant evaluation in clinical trials, reports RTE.
North and South Kivu provinces, which have also recorded Ebola cases in this outbreak, have been plagued by near-continuous violence for three decades, with much of the affected area controlled by the Rwanda-backed armed group M23.
Nearly a million displaced people are living in Ituri province, where the prospect of the virus spreading throughout overcrowded displacement camps has sparked widespread alarm, reports RTE.
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