We have beaten Ebola before, and we can do it again.
By Moses Okorie
The United Nations has warned that the international response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) must be urgently intensified as the death toll approaches 3,000.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said the virus was spreading faster than efforts to contain it, despite increased intervention by humanitarian organizations and Congolese authorities.
“The response is growing and has been scaled up, but the virus is moving faster,” Fletcher said, warning that further delays could result in more deaths and wider transmission.
Authorities in the DRC had recorded more than 6,100 confirmed Ebola cases and 2,950 deaths as of Monday, with more than 5,000 infections reported in Ituri Province.
The outbreak, declared on May 15, has raised serious concerns because of the speed at which infections are increasing. The UN said the current situation is developing significantly faster than the Ebola epidemic that devastated parts of West Africa between 2014 and 2016.
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of infected people, as well as contaminated materials. Early identification of cases, isolation and treatment are therefore critical to preventing further transmission.
Fletcher said controlling the outbreak would require sustained political commitment from affected countries, unhindered access for humanitarian workers and substantially increased international funding.
He noted that the necessary medical expertise and tools to fight Ebola were available, but stressed that political commitment and adequate resources remained essential.
The UN official appealed to governments to guarantee humanitarian access to affected communities, particularly in areas where insecurity and poor infrastructure are hampering response operations.
He also urged the international community to maintain Ebola as a priority on the global health agenda to prevent further regional and international spread.
According to the UN, humanitarian agencies are currently facing a funding gap of about $1.1 billion, limiting their capacity to strengthen surveillance, treatment, community engagement and preparedness measures in neighboring countries.
Fletcher disclosed that more than $57 million had been released from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to support response and preparedness activities in the DRC and surrounding countries.
He said closing the funding gap would be critical to ensuring that the available technical capacity translates into effective action on the ground.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization recently declared Uganda’s latest Ebola outbreak over following a response that included rapid case detection, contact tracing, isolation, clinical treatment, infection prevention and enhanced surveillance.
“We have beaten Ebola before, and we can do it again,” Fletcher said.
The UN International Organization for Migration has also carried out nearly 23 million health screenings in the DRC and neighboring countries.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the screenings were helping health authorities monitor population movements, identify suspected cases and minimize the risk of Ebola spreading across international borders.