DRC: Insecurity, Lab Limitations Complicated Ebola Response During Early Outbreak Phase

Roger Kamba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) minister of health, says insecurity and laboratory limitations complicated response to the Ebola virus during the early phase of the outbreak.

Kamba spoke during a media briefing after a high-level ministerial cross-border coordination meeting convened in Kampala on Saturday.

The meeting was convened by Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), alongisde ministers of health from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan; the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and technical partners, a statement issued Monday by the CDC said.

So far, the outbreak has resulted in 96 confirmed cases and 11 deaths across the DRC and Uganda, with an additional 867 suspected cases and 204 suspected deaths under investigation since the disease resurfaced in the Congo nearly two weeks ago.

The outbreak was recorded in the DRC’s Ituri province, one of the most volatile parts of eastern DRC battling armed violence.

Asides from the insecurity, Kaseya noted that the delay in response “was due to the fact that the laboratory in Bunia could not detect the Bundibugyo strain, and it was necessary to send the samples to Kinshasa”.

Kamba said the DRC government is engaging diplomatic and mediation channels, including international partners, to facilitate access and coordination in areas under control of the M23, an armed terrorist group, so that Ebola response activities could continue across affected regions.

The minister stressed that a unified response across all affected territories was essential to containing the outbreak.

According to the statement, the meeting endorsed a unified continental response framework built around a “one team, one plan, one budget and one implementation model” under the continental incident management support team (IMST) jointly coordinated by Africa CDC and WHO.

The statement said health leaders agreed on a broad package of regional actions, including strengthening cross-border surveillance and early warning systems, harmonising public health measures at official and unofficial points of entry, improving laboratory and diagnostic capacity, and reinforcing infection prevention and control measures.