DR Congo Ebola outbreak: Unrest fuelled by armed groups holds back response

Ebola survivor clinics strengthen the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where infections continue to spread in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to spread amid repeated and ongoing deadly attacks on civilians and frontline health workers by armed groups that are obstructing efforts to stop transmission, UN responders said on Friday.

In an update, the UN Senior Ebola Response Coordinator, Julien Harneis, stressed that more people are being killed by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) fighters than by Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in recent days.

And yet attacks on “tens of villages" across the south of Ituri and North Kivu provinces go "unnoticed", Mr. Harneis maintained. “People are scared, people are furious at the lack of action on this...following up contact tracing in areas where ADF operating is a very hazardous idea.”

Echoing that message, the UN World Health Organization ( WHO )’s Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said that despite much progress in containing transmission within eastern DRC, about 400 to 500 cases of infection are still being identified every week.

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