BUNIA – In an urgent response to an escalating health crisis, the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, touched down in Bunia, a city in eastern Congo currently grappling with a rare strain of the Ebola virus. Despite the presence of improved healthcare infrastructure and newly arrived aid, the virus continues to outpace containment efforts.
During his visit, Dr. Tedros plans to tour a local treatment center and engage with key stakeholders, including local authorities, healthcare professionals, and families directly affected by the outbreak.
“The most effective strategy to tackle this epidemic is to concentrate resources at the virus’s epicenter and ensure that all necessary support is readily available,” Tedros emphasized to reporters late Friday.
The World Health Organization has reported a concerning statistic: 906 suspected cases of Ebola have been identified, with 223 suspected fatalities. Meanwhile, Uganda, which shares a border with Congo, has confirmed nine cases and one death, according to its Ministry of Health.
The current outbreak is attributed to the Bundibugyo virus, a strain of Ebola for which there is neither an approved treatment nor a vaccine.
Despite the challenges, Dr. Tedros remains optimistic, stating, “This situation is indeed challenging, but the Democratic Republic of Congo has successfully managed Ebola outbreaks in the past. We are confident that with collective effort, this outbreak can be controlled once again.” His remarks followed a meeting with Congo’s Prime Minister, Judith Suminwa Tuluka, on Friday.
Medical aid donated by the European Union arrived in Ituri, the heart of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, on Thursday, with more shipments expected over the next eight days. The U.S. announced $80 million in additional aid on the same day, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million.
Response efforts at Bunia’s Rwampara and General hospitals appear more organized, with additional staff, protective gear and medical supplies, though patients continue arriving around the clock, an AP reporter observed on Friday.
The response has not kept pace with one of the fastest-spreading outbreaks on record, Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, warned on Saturday.
“Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” Dr. Alan Gonzalez, MSF’s deputy director of operations, said in a statement.
“Nobody knows the true scale and severity of this outbreak,” Gonzalez said, calling for immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.
Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for handling the victims’ bodies, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.
Attacks in Ituri by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias have also hindered the response.
The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.
Uganda and Rwanda have closed their borders, while the Trump administration last week banned entry of non-U.S. passport holders who had recently visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.
Tedros on Friday called border closures and travel bans “not effective at all” in preventing the spread of the outbreak
“Closing borders, as some countries have done, only discourages transparency. The Democratic Republic of Congo is reporting the situation openly and transparently,” he said, urging countries to reconsider these measures.
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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press reporter Saleh Mwanamilongo in Bonn, Germany, contributed to this report.
