The tenth Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues. To date, there have been 3,224 confirmed EVD cases, with 2,153 deaths (a case fatality rate of 67 percent). 949 cases (39 percent) have been children. So far the humanitarian community has vaccinated 238,000 people. The current EVD hotspots are Mandima and Manbasa. At least three of the recent deaths took place in the community in Mandima. Community deaths, as opposed to those that take place within Ebola treatment centers or hospitals, raise the risk of Ebola transmission. Beni, a city in the DRC’s North Kivu province that has been a centre of the outbreak is no longer the epicenter. Despite some success, WHO still considers the outbreak to be a “public health emergency of international concern.” Ebola is continuing to spread in remote parts of North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Community mistrust, poverty, insecurity, access challenges because of conflict, attacks against health workers, and population displacement all contribute to the difficulty in responding to and minimizes this EVD outbreak. This all adds to the complexity of responding to the even larger and longer-term challenges in DRC including poor governance, intra and inter-state conflict, and a variety of other humanitarian and development challenges.
Neighbouring countries continue with their contingency efforts. In Rwanda, the Ministry of Health is planning vaccinations for communities situated near the border with DRC. In Uganda there was a suspected EVD case – a seven year old South Sudanese refugee, who later died – but she tested negative for EVD. There are no other identified EVD cases in Uganda. Preparedness activities in South Sudan and Tanzania require strengthening. In Tanzania, Government transparency remains lacking, and the response capacity is lacking. WHO has requested increased access by the Government of Tanzania continues to deny these requests.