Ebola ‌kills 2,700 in DRC as UN chief seeks $1.1bn

n n

No fewer than 2,700 people have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with about 500 new cases emerging weekly.

n

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the worsening Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak could claim more lives unless the international community urgently expands funding and containment efforts.

n

Guterres also warned that global indifference could worsen the Ebola crisis in DRC.

n

Guterres told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York that urgent international action and additional financing were required to prevent the epidemic from spreading further.

n

“The challenge is immense,” he said, warning that the humanitarian response was only 48 per cent funded while available resources could last merely weeks.

n

“We know how to contain Ebola, how to interrupt transmission and how to save lives,” the UN chief said.

n

“But we must also overcome another virus: the virus of indifference.”

n

Guterres appealed for an additional 1.1 billion dollars, warning that critical operations risked exhausting their funding just when the response needed substantial expansion.

n

“Without additional funding, vital operations will run out of money at the very moment they need to ramp up,” he warned.

n

The World Health Organisation said interventions had slowed transmission but had yet to reverse the overall trend as insecurity, displacement and weak health systems complicated containment efforts.

n

WHO warned the outbreak was spreading through areas battered by decades of conflict, where more than 12 million people required humanitarian assistance and protection.

n

In Ituri Province alone, about one million people had been displaced, increasing difficulties associated with surveillance, contact tracing, treatment and prevention, WHO stressed.

n

Insecurity has compounded the health emergency, with more than 40 healthcare workers killed and treatment centres and ambulances attacked during the response.

n

UN humanitarian agencies said responders were consequently fighting both Ebola and violence, while insecurity continued to make some affected communities difficult to reach.

n

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said partners had deployed 35 additional safe and dignified burial teams and 286 community-based teams involving more than 2,500 volunteers and civil protection personnel.

n

WHO had also deployed more than 260 experts and delivered over 330 tonnes of essential medical and logistical supplies to support treatment, surveillance and containment operations.

n

The World Food Programme is supporting frontline operations and medical evacuations through the UN Humanitarian Air Service, while IOM has screened more than one million people regionally.

n

International Organization for Migration (IOM) also launched a preparedness plan covering 11 countries as concern grows about cross-border transmission, particularly into neighbouring Burundi.

n

WHO said Burundi had recorded no confirmed cases but is strengthening laboratory procedures, response guidelines and public awareness because of its proximity to affected Congolese areas.

n

Meanwhile, WHO has declared Uganda free of its Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak after 42 consecutive days without a new confirmed case, following 20 infections and two deaths.

n

The 42-day benchmark, equivalent to twice the upper limit of the incubation period for Ebola, is the internationally established criterion for determining that an outbreak has ended.

n

NAN

n n