The United Nations has warned that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is spreading faster than efforts to contain it, with the reported death toll nearing 3,000.
The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said humanitarian agencies and Congolese authorities had significantly expanded their response, but the scale-up was still failing to match the speed of transmission.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person, as well as contaminated materials. This makes early identification, isolation and treatment of cases crucial to stopping further transmission.
Fletcher said the response had increased considerably but stressed that the virus was advancing more rapidly, warning that urgent additional action was needed to prevent further deaths and a wider spread of the outbreak.
As of Monday, DRC authorities had recorded more than 6,100 confirmed cases and 2,950 deaths, with Ituri Province accounting for more than 5,000 infections.
The outbreak, identified as the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, was declared in the DRC on May 15. The UN said its current rate of spread is significantly faster than that recorded during the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, one of the deadliest Ebola outbreaks in history.
Fletcher said effective containment would depend on sustained political support, unhindered access for humanitarian workers and a major increase in international funding.
He noted that the world already has the expertise and tools needed to tackle Ebola, alongside health workers putting their lives at risk, but said stronger political commitment, access and resources were urgently required.
The UN official called on governments to facilitate humanitarian access to affected communities, particularly in locations where insecurity and poor infrastructure are making the response more difficult.
He also urged the international community to maintain focus on the outbreak to prevent further regional and international spread.
Humanitarian agencies are currently facing a funding deficit of approximately $1.1 billion, which is restricting efforts in areas such as disease surveillance, treatment, community engagement and preparedness in neighbouring countries.
Fletcher disclosed that more than $57 million had been released from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to support Ebola response and preparedness activities in the DRC and surrounding countries.
He said closing the funding gap and containing the outbreak would require governments and international partners to combine existing technical expertise with the political commitment needed to act quickly.
The UN maintained that effective tools for controlling Ebola are already available but warned that delayed funding, restricted humanitarian access and weak coordination could allow the virus to spread faster than containment measures.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently announced that Uganda’s latest Ebola outbreak had ended after authorities successfully implemented measures including rapid detection, contact tracing, isolation, clinical treatment, infection prevention and stronger surveillance.
Fletcher expressed confidence that Ebola could once again be brought under control, saying the disease had been defeated before and could be defeated again.
The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also carried out almost 23 million health screenings in the DRC and neighbouring countries.
According to UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, the screenings are helping authorities track population movements, detect suspected cases and reduce the risk of the virus crossing international borders.
Source: PUNCH
