The European Union has announced an additional €5 million in funding to support efforts to contain the latest Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as European Commissioner for Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib visited the region on Sunday.
Speaking after arriving at Bunia airport in Ituri province, a key logistics hub for the Ebola response, Lahbib said the funding would be used to establish regional diagnostic centres in the provinces most affected by the outbreak.
The announcement comes as the Ebola epidemic continues to accelerate across central Africa. Nearly 500 cases have now been confirmed, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the crisis an international public health emergency.
“The European Union takes this emergency very seriously,” Lahbib said. “As soon as the outbreak began, we sprang into action and were on the ground very quickly to step up our support, and that commitment continues today.”
The commissioner said the new funding would help provide faster and more reliable testing in areas where the virus is spreading, allowing health authorities to identify and isolate cases more quickly.
In its latest update on Saturday, the WHO reported 452 confirmed infections and 82 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak was officially declared three weeks ago. Health experts have warned that, if left unchecked, the epidemic could become one of the largest ever recorded.
The latest outbreak is the 17th Ebola epidemic recorded in the region, underlining the continuing threat posed by the disease in eastern Congo, where conflict, displacement and fragile healthcare systems have complicated efforts to prevent its spread.
Lahbib said the warning signs were already apparent during a previous visit to the region earlier this year.
“When I was here four months ago, I felt that all the factors were in place due to the sanitary conditions, a healthcare system on its knees, an exhausted population, and a population constantly displaced by the fighting, for this epidemic to break out once again,” she said.
The European Union has already allocated €84M in response to this crisis and mobilised humanitarian assistance to support local authorities and international health organisations.
A recent humanitarian airlift by UNICEF delivered almost 100 tonnes of emergency supplies, including medicines, tents and protective equipment, to eastern DR Congo.
Lahbib said five additional humanitarian flights are scheduled to arrive in Bunia in the coming weeks as part of the EU’s ongoing support effort.
‘The virus pays no heed to borders’
The outbreak is unfolding against the backdrop of continued insecurity in eastern Congo, where violence involving armed groups has forced large numbers of people from their homes and disrupted access to healthcare.
Lahbib used her visit to urge all parties involved in the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and allow aid workers safe access to affected communities.
“Respecting humanitarian law means respecting life,” she said. “Even in times of war, there are rules that must be observed.”
She warned that infectious diseases do not recognise conflict lines, adding that “the virus pays no heed to borders or human disputes, and kills even faster than bullets.”
Concerns about the regional spread of the disease have grown after cases were detected in neighbouring Uganda. On Monday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited the country, where authorities have reported 19 infections and two deaths linked to the outbreak.
Tedros said border screening measures had helped identify infected travellers arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and praised Uganda’s surveillance, testing and case management systems for helping to contain the virus.
Additional sources • AFP