Ebola Outbreak in Eastern Congo Continues Amid Access Limits and New Funding Pledges

An Ebola outbreak continues in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where health workers cannot reach many camps for internally displaced people because of security concerns tied to rebel groups and Hema-Lendu intercommunal conflict, Al Jazeera reported.

Approximately one million people live in those camps, Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview conducted in Kinshasa. Cases are being reported from the camps, and some residents who leave say additional infections exist inside sites that remain inaccessible.

Kaseya met President Felix Tshisekedi, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, the Ebola task force and the humanitarian affairs ministry on June 16. The group received $910 million in pledges for the health response at that meeting. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has contributed $50 million toward a requested $200 million health response plan.

Officials estimate an additional $1.4 billion will be needed over six months to address the broader humanitarian crisis. The case fatality rate for the current outbreak is approaching 25 percent, Kaseya said. Most affected individuals are between 15 and 45 years old.

Exposed people must be isolated and monitored for 21 days, which prevents them from working. Contact tracing is under way in three or four major camps. Kaseya said the humanitarian shortfalls make containment harder than in prior outbreaks.

"Without addressing the humanitarian crisis, we will not stop the outbreak," Kaseya said.