KINSHASA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that it is intensifying support for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to curb the spread of Ebola, after the country declared an outbreak in Kasai Province, reported Xinhua.
Within 48 hours of the Sept 4 declaration, the WHO airlifted 12 tonnes of supplies – including personal protective equipment, patient isolation materials, water, sanitation, and hygiene kits to support clinical care and safeguard frontline health workers. Additional shipments are en route to bolster the response.
“The affected localities are hard to reach. We are working around the clock to rapidly roll out response measures to ensure robust outbreak control to stop the virus from spreading further and save lives,“ Mohamed Janabi, WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement.
On Sunday, frontline response teams in Kinshasa, the DRC’s capital, were vaccinated against Ebola ahead of their field deployment, using doses from a prepositioned stockpile supported by the WHO and its partners.
The WHO is working with national authorities in 10 priority countries neighbouring the DRC to initiate readiness assessments and develop contingency plans.
In Tanzania, efforts include strengthening disease surveillance in border areas to swiftly detect cases and respond promptly to prevent further transmission.
In Angola, the WHO is supporting the national authorities in stepping up preparedness, especially in Lunda Norte Province, which borders Kasai Province.
The latest Ebola outbreak in the DRC marks the country’s 16th since the virus was first identified in 1976. The WHO said the resurgence comes amid multiple health emergencies, including mpox, cholera, and measles, and assessed the overall public health risk as high nationally, moderate regionally, and low globally.
According to the WHO, the epicentre is near Tshikapa, the capital of Kasai Province, about 100 to 200 km from the Angolan border. The outbreak is currently affecting a remote rural district, though frequent population movements, particularly between Bulape and Tshikapa, heighten the risk of wider spread.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, with transmission chains and the source of infection yet to be identified. The onset date of the first case remains unclear, and undetected cases cannot be ruled out, the WHO warned.
Uganda, one of the countries bordering the DRC, said last Friday that it is on high alert following the latest outbreak. Henry Kyobe Bosa, incident commander at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, said authorities are closely monitoring the situation and will conduct a risk assessment before developing preventive measures.
The DRC last declared the end of an Ebola outbreak in September 2022, after one case was confirmed in the eastern province of North Kivu. Testing showed that the case was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, which killed nearly 2,300 people. Kasai Province previously reported Ebola outbreaks in 2007 and 2008, according to the WHO.
Ebola first occurred in 1976 during two simultaneous outbreaks: one of Sudan virus disease in Nzara, in present-day South Sudan, and the other of Ebola virus disease in Yambuku, in what is now the DRC, then known as Zaire. The latter outbreak occurred in a village near the Ebola River, which gave the disease its name, according to the WHO.
Ebola is a highly contagious haemorrhagic fever that causes a range of symptoms, including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, body pain, and fatigue, and in many cases, leads to both internal and external bleeding – BERNAMA-XINHUA
