1 February 2019 marked six months since the Congolese government announced that preliminary laboratory results indicated a cluster of Ebola virus cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu region. Since then, over 800 cases have been identified, and over 500 have died.

Thanks to vigilant preventative measures by neighbouring states, the Ebola virus has been contained to outbreak regions within the DRC to date.

As the majority of care-takers in many families are female, this increased exposure results in women making up 58% of victims.

One of the issues that has prevented humanitarian organizations from containing the disease, is the mistrust of local communities. Some have admitted that until they were personally impacted by EVD, they thought Ebola was a made up story by politicians.

Alongside community awareness, hygiene and sanitation are paramount in handling the spread of EVD. UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore spoke in Munich, relating this outbreak to previous, saying:

“And once again, we face familiar challenges — and more. An unforgiving disease that requires 100 per cent of cases to be controlled and isolated. A high-density, mobile population. A lingering mistrust of aid. More children and women among those infected and dying of the disease. And a new, unexpected threat: security concerns and direct attacks that impede access.”

Despite challenges, organizations involved are continuing to innovate, creating isolation cubes, developing new vaccines, trying experimental therapies, and taking part in big-data analysis in order to monitor the spread of the outbreak in DRC.

The World Health Organisation’s External Situation Report 28 on 12 February 2019 made the following conclusion on the Ebola situation in DRC to date:

“Katwa and Butembo remain the centre of the outbreak with most cases reported from these areas in the last three weeks. In addition, relatively smaller clusters are occurring in a wide geographical area and this requires simultaneous response in multiple areas in collaboration with partners. The past six months have, however, demonstrated successful control of the outbreak in many areas. Continued implementation of both proven and innovative public health measures will bring the outbreak to an end.”

 

 

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Image courtesy of UN Photo: Beatrice Mategwa via Flickr

 

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