DR Congo's Ebola Outbreak Becomes Deadliest on Record: More Than 4,000 Dead as Conflict Blocks the Response
The outbreak has killed 4,018 people from 8,300 confirmed cases. Militia clashes, burned treatment centres, and deep mistrust of authorities are hampering efforts to stop the virus.
The worst Ebola outbreak in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo has now killed more than 4,000 people, according to official figures released on Friday. There have been 4,018 fatalities from 8,300 confirmed cases, with 2,162 people recovering, giving a fatality rate of 48.4 percent.
The outbreak was officially detected in mid-May and has hit unstable regions of the vast central African country where armed clashes and violence, alongside a critical lack of resources, have hindered the health response. After starting in Ituri province in the northeast, the current outbreak has spread to seven provinces in the north and east.
In North Kivu province, also in the northeast, four deaths among six cases have been recorded in areas controlled by the anti-government group M23. The response has been hampered not only by conflict but also by deep mistrust of authority among inhabitants of several provinces.
Recent days have seen violent clashes between local militias in Ituri, with more than 5,000 people displaced, according to the United Nations. A transit centre for Ebola patients burned down on Tuesday in the same province after soldiers entered a site for displaced people, who promptly fled. A contractor responsible for detecting cases was also killed in an attack on a health facility in North Kivu, Congolese authorities said on Wednesday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot was due in the Ituri capital of Bunia on Friday to show Paris' support for local authorities and humanitarian workers. There is no indication France is offering fresh humanitarian aid, but the country did allocate €13.4 million to the fight against Ebola between January and July. The United States has announced it is releasing a further €237 million to combat the spread of the disease.
Healthcare workers are notably at risk of contracting the virus in poor and remote regions where healthcare infrastructure is poor. Several vaccines and treatments are currently being studied to combat the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which is behind the current outbreak. The first doses of the Ervebo vaccine — which has been proven effective against the Zaire strain, the most common variant, in the past — have been administered in recent weeks to volunteers among frontline staff as part of a clinical trial.
For now, the numbers are staggering. More than 4,000 dead. Over 8,000 infected. A fatality rate approaching half of all cases. And a response effort that is being shot at, burned down, and blocked by the very instability that makes the region so vulnerable in the first place. The vaccine trials offer hope. But hope is not a strategy. And in eastern Congo, the virus is winning.
Written by Freya Stensrud freya.stensrud@alpineweekly.com