UN and Partners Continue to Support Ebola Response in DR Congo

The United Nations and its partners continue to support efforts to tackle the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN humanitarian agency said on Thursday (2 July). In Ituri Province, health authorities have confirmed at least two Ebola cases in the Kigonze displacement camp, which houses around 15,000 people displaced by conflict in Bunia, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). An Ebola treatment centre is currently being built at the Kigonze camp, and a new programme providing free healthcare services to the displaced was launched on Thursday. Partners are also scaling up community outreach and disease prevention efforts, including the installation of hand-washing stations, OCHA said. However, a lack of community trust continues to hinder public health interventions. On 30 June, local authorities reported that one civilian was killed after protesters set fire to a health facility in Bafwabango village, Ituri Province, OCHA stated. As of Tuesday (30 June), local authorities had reported 1,406 confirmed Ebola cases across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. Three confirmed cases linked to Ituri have also been identified in the neighbouring provinces of Haut-Uele and Tshopo, raising concerns about the further spread of the outbreak. Senior UN Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, on Wednesday (1 July) to formally begin his duties, working closely with national authorities, the World Health Organization (WHO), and UN partners, OCHA said. Harneis will help support the scaling up of response efforts, strengthen coordination, address operational challenges, and help ensure that aid reaches communities in need as quickly as possible.