As of June 17, 896 confirmed cases and 232 deaths had been reported in 31 health zones. in the country, with Uganda confirming 19 cases and two deaths, according to the latest updates released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.
To deliver lifesaving aid safely, WHO chief Tedros last month called for a ceasefire amid decades-long clashes between Congolese authorities and the M23 armed group in eastern DRC, where more than two million forcibly displaced people live — including more than 320,000 refugees — and where Ebola continues to spread.
Now the risk is regional, said Dr. Allen Maina of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), pointing out that eastern DRC borders an area where trade, family ties and refugee movements connect Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan.
Disease and armed conflict
As such, UNHCR is strengthening preparedness in these countries, working with governments, WHO and partners to strengthen surveillance, testing, infection prevention, communication and support for water, sanitation and hygiene in refugee hosting areas and border corridors.
“We aim to prevent further cross-border transmission without hindering people seeking safety.“, he said.
A typical example occurred on June 7, he said, when UNHCR monitored the arrival of some 2,250 people from Mbau, 20 km from Beni, one of the epicenters of the outbreak, after movements by armed groups sparked panic and caused them to flee to Oicha, North Kivu, an Ebola-affected area already home to more than 14,300 people. displaced.
Frontline emergency services
More than 115 experts from the UN health agency have been deployed to affected provinces, with more than 110 tonnes of emergency supplies delivered to support frontline operations, WHO acting regional emergencies director Dr Marie Roseline Belizaire said from Bunia, DRC.
Diagnostic and treatment capabilities continued to expand, but access constraints continued to limit operations in some high-risk areas, she warned.
“One month after the outbreak was declared, the situation remains serious and continues to evolve,” she said. “Cases continued to be reported in several regions, highlighting the need to maintain and accelerate response efforts. »
More than a million screenings
The Ebola outbreak is spreading in one of the continent’s most active cross-border areas, where thousands of people move every day in search of safety, work, health care and connections with family, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
“Understanding human mobility patterns was one of our most powerful tools for stopping the spread of disease“, an IOM spokesperson said, announcing that the UN agency had carried out more than a million screenings to date and began scaling up operations in the DRC and neighboring Uganda on Friday.
Checks are taking place at borders and along major routes and travel corridors through affected and at-risk countries, including support at more than 110 points of entry, said Kit Leung, IOM’s senior migration health advisor.
90 percent mortality rate among pregnant women
Mortality rates among pregnant women infected with Ebola reached 90 percent, and perinatal mortality (the period just before or after birth) reached 100 percent in some settings, according to the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA.
“This epidemic was also a emergency in maternal health and protection of women and girlssaid Noemi Dalmonte, UNFPA deputy country representative, speaking from the DRC capital Kinshasa.
As part of the broader response to Ebola, the agency is focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, gender-based violence and building community trust, deploying 153 midwives in eastern DRC to help maintain safe childbirth, emergency obstetric care and postnatal care, with further deployments planned, she said.
Lobbying for emergency funding
Some UN agencies are calling for urgent funding to help them continue to fight the Ebola outbreak on the ground:
- UNFPA urgent appeal for $17.1 million to support vital sexual and reproductive health services in the DRC
- As part of an inter-agency effort, UNHCR is seeking $14 million for its Ebola preparedness and response from July to November to help forcibly displaced people and their host communities in the DRC and Uganda, while strengthening preparedness in Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.
- The United Nations in Uganda, together with its humanitarian partners, has launched an emergency appeal for $15.8 million to support the country’s national response.
