UN Working ‘Intensively’ to Stop Ebola in Eastern DR Congo

United Nations (UN), Ebola Emergency Response department and World Health Organization (WHO) has said they are working intensively to stop Ebola and to prevent any further spread in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Wednesday, David Gressley, the UN Ebola Emergency Response Coordinator, and Dr. Ibrahima Socé Fall, Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response at the World Health Organization (WHO), released a joint statement announcing the news.

Surveillance is being stepped up at all entry and exit points in the area, but more needs to be done to eradicate Ebola, the officials said, calling for a “strong, resilient health system” to avoid a resurgence of the disease in DRC.

The senior officials stated that there is no evidence that the second case in Goma is linked to the first confirmed case. The first concerned a pastor who travelled to Goma from Butembo in North Kivu. The second is a miner who had been working in Ituri. The disease is centred in both provinces.

The reports of the second case of Ebola come a day after the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that it needs to trip its budget to tackle the complex crisis, which is complicated by ongoing conflict, and an outbreak of measles.

On Friday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that, over the next six months, it is planning to scale up and double food assistance to people affected by the disease, in preparation for a potential further escalation of the epidemic.

The WFP support is for 440,000 “Ebola-affected” people in DRC, which includes contacts of victims and their families, as well as confirmed and suspected cases.