Ebola response faces setback as transit centre burns down in DR Congo camp

Condemning the blaze, the UN’s senior Ebola response official in DRC, Julien Harneis, also noted that Kigonze camp where the facility was open now lies abandoned. 

“It’s been a huge struggle to create Ebola transit centres [and] Ebola treatment centres; it’s required money, bringing in staff and it’s been a struggle all across the east,” Mr. Harneis told UN News. “So, when we lose a centre, that means we lose capacity, we lose investment and we have to start again. And above all, it means that people do not get access to the care that they really need.”

Deserted shelters

The camp had provided shelter for some 19,000 people fleeing violence in the resource-rich east of the country, close to the border with Rwanda.

In recent days, thousands of people fled Kigonze following reports that soldiers had entered the site searching for weapons and people suspected of belonging to non-State armed groups. Gunfire was also reportedly heard.

Describing the transit centre fire on Tuesday evening as “deeply disappointing”, Mr. Harneis explained that staff there had provided “essential and excellent” services to those who needed them. He added that the UN is working with authorities to ensure that health facilities are protected.

In related developments, more than 3,000 people fled Rhoe displacement camp in Djugu territory (also in Ituri province) following clashes that intensified on 27 September. According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, at least four people were reportedly killed and seven injured, while several houses were burned down in Blukwa. 

Women and children account for most of those displaced, according to humanitarian sources.

Fighting has also severely hampered the Ebola response and restricted humanitarian access to several health zones, including Ituri province’s Fataki, Drodro and Lita.

Ongoing insecurity has also delayed the transport of laboratory samples from Fataki to Bunia and disrupted the transfer of confirmed Ebola patients for treatment. Some aid organizations have suspended activities in affected areas.

North Kivu responders killed

Meanwhile, in neighbouring North Kivu province, two people involved in the Ebola response were reportedly killed in Lubero on 27 and 28 September. Fighting in Masisi has displaced more than 24,000 people since mid-September.

OCHA and humanitarian partners are monitoring the situation and calling on all parties to protect civilians, safeguard displacement camps and ensure humanitarian access.

Violence has also been reported in South Kivu and Tanganyika provinces of DRC, forcing thousands more people from their homes and increasing humanitarian needs, the aid office said in an update earlier this week.

A vast outbreak

Ebola has spread across seven provinces since the public health emergency was declared in mid-May. It is the country’s 17^th outbreak. The affected provinces are Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, South Ubangi and Tshopo. 

More than 8,000 cases of infection have been confirmed including 4,000 deaths. Ituri remains the epicentre of the current emergency, with most cases in and around the cities of Bunia and Mongbwalu. 

In an update, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) stressed the double challenge for Ebola responders – including safe burial teams – who urgently need more help: “Where transmission remains intense, we need to increase capacity to halt the pace of infections. And in emerging hotspots, we need to intervene quickly to stop the virus from taking hold,” the agency said.

How the UN is helping

WHO is a key supporter of local health authorities, providing assistance with case management, surveillance, safe and dignified burials and community engagement.

This is the case in Ituri’s Mongala health region, where 346 confirmed cases of Ebola have now been confirmed, with 149 deaths, since the first infection was detected on 18 May. 

Located 45 kilometres from the provincial capital, Bunia, access remains difficult and takes nearly two hours by car. Because Mongala lacks a treatment centre, patients are either referred to Nizi – 27 kilometres away – or Bunia, depending on where beds are available and the patient’s choice.

In an update, WHO noted that the number of mobile safe and dignified burial teams has increased from 53 teams of 12 members to 114 teams deployed across Ituri province. In areas of high transmission, 57 community teams trained in safe and dignified burials were deployed across 11 health areas in Mongala and Fataki.

The number of patient beds has increased too, with the aim of providing more than 1,800 beds across 54 health facilities in 34 health zones. “However, more than 1,400 additional health professionals are needed to support this expansion,” the agency stressed.

“Increasing capacity allows us to admit more patients under better conditions and reduce delays. Rapid isolation and treatment of cases is essential,” said Dr Stéphane Mutombo, anaesthaesiologist and resuscitator, head of the clinical component within the holistic care pillar, for DRC’s Ministry of Health.

This Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. It has become the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in DRC, surpassing the 2018–2020 emergency.

It is second only to the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which infected more than 28,600 people and killed over 11,000 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.