The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a coordinated response with African countries to contain the worsening Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo amid growing fears that misinformation, insecurity and porous borders could accelerate the spread of the deadly virus.
Officials in DR Congo updated the death toll to 204 late on Saturday, hours after the Red Cross said three volunteers in the country had died and Uganda confirmed three new Ebola cases.
Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, said on Saturday that 10 countries are at risk of the virus spreading, listing Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
The announcement followed a meeting in Uganda’s capital Kampala that brought together health ministers and senior officials from Uganda, DR Congo and South Sudan alongside United Nations agencies and international partners to harmonize preparedness, surveillance and emergency response efforts under the “one team, one plan, one budget and one implementation” model.
Africa CDC emphasized the urgent need for coordinated action through the Continental Incident Management Support Team and called for increased research and development efforts for treatments and vaccines.
Kaseya said delegates requested about $319 million to support outbreak preparedness and response measures, including infection prevention and control, case management, and medical countermeasures between June and November. More than 75 percent of the funding is expected to support DR Congo and Uganda. About $230 million has already been pledged.
Insecurity issues
DR Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba, said insecurity in the affected areas has made it difficult to deploy health workers, trace contacts and coordinate a unified response.
Widespread misinformation and mistrust surrounding the outbreak is also undermining containment efforts, he said, adding a treatment tent in Mongbwalu was set on fire on Friday because of misinformation.
“There are people who believe the disease was created for business purposes or to control the population. It’s important that we secure community engagement,” he said.
Marie Roseline Belizaire, the WHO’s emergency director for Africa, said all lessons from COVID-19 pandemic and previous Ebola outbreaks have shown that community should be involved at the onset of the response.
Diana Atwine, Uganda’s health secretary, said her country is committed to working with other nations and partners to contain the outbreak.
“No single country can be safe until all of us are safe,” she said, adding that the success of the response will largely depend on how quickly cases can be identified and how quickly logistics are received on ground.
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