Elmer continued, “We know that Ebola is endemic in this region, but we cannot take anything for granted and we must take swift action to stop the spread of this new outbreak. We urge health authorities to consider what we learned from the previous Ebola epidemic in Eastern Congo by ensuring that local communities are at the forefront of the response, particularly on prevention and information to get people to health centers when sick. Community structures must continue to be supported and strengthened, so they gain ownership of the health responses, and become the main actors protecting their communities."
UNICEF is deploying additional staff and preparing to send medical equipment and supplies to North Kivu following the confirmation of a new case of Ebola in eastern DRC. UNICEF is also assisting efforts to track and trace all those who came into contact with the victim, a 42-year-old woman, and is working closely with local health authorities to support community mobilization, control infection mechanisms and decontamination activities.
Staff from the UNICEF’s office in Beni are already onsite in Butembo to support the North Kivu Health Division. Additional UNICEF Communication for Development staff will travel to affected areas to mobilize the community response, inform the public of any emergency measures that need to be taken and support the local government’s track and trace network so that people required to receive the Ebola vaccine are informed. UNICEF is currently organizing shipping medical equipment and supplies that will be brought to the affected area from Mbandaka, in Equateur province.
Congolese health authorities say the new case is the wife of an Ebola survivor. She went to the Biena health center, 90km south-west of Butembo, on February 1 with symptoms of Ebola. She was tested and then transferred to the Matanda Hospital in Butembo where she died on 3 February. A Gene Xpert test was performed which confirmed that she had the disease.
