The ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has now claimed close to 2,000 lives, with twice that number infected, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization.
The WHO said this week that two in three victims are dying at home, far from treatment centres.
Reporting back after visiting Bunia, in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, the WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr Mohamed Janabi, called for greater support for the response.
There is currently no vaccine for Ebola Bundibugyo disease, but patients have shown that they can recover if diagnosed in time. Dr Janabi said rural villages lacked the lifesaving services needed to keep those sick with Ebola, and other diseases, alive.
“We have to look outside Ebola. What the people are saying is, the ordinary services should also continue,” he said. “So, our next approach, for example, we want to increase 400 beds, but we have discussed, we are going to increase 400 beds for Ebola and 100 beds for other services.”
Dr Janabi pointed to the success of the response in the border town of Aru, where there have been no new infections for two weeks.
Part of the reason, he said, is that Aru has built treatment centres so that sick people no longer have to travel to seek help, reducing the risk of the disease spreading further.
The authorities in Aru, he added, have also worked hard to raise awareness of the dangers of the Ebola virus.
