Congo-Kinshasa: DR Congo Ebola Outbreak - Armed Groups Unrest Hold Back Response

The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) persists while armed groups engage in deadly attacks on civilians and healthcare personnel, hindering containment efforts, UN responders informed on Friday. According to the UN Senior Ebola Response Coordinator, Julien Harneis, more fatalities result from attacks by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) than from Ebola infections caused by Bundibugyo virus recently.

Harneis highlighted that civilians in numerous villages across Ituri and North Kivu provinces remain oblivious to these assaults. UN World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Director of Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, echoed Harneis, noting that although progress in curtailing transmission within eastern DRC has been made, approximately 400 to 500 new infections are still reported weekly.

Ihekweazu explained that this surge is attributed to cases emerging in remote areas. Positive progress includes a substantial decline in transmission in previously affected hotspots such as Bunia, Mongbwalu, Rampara, and Nizi, all located in eastern DRC's Ituri province. However, the ongoing violent unrest across the extensive region impacted by Ebola presents significant obstacles for responders.

The WHO official emphasized the necessity of continued collaboration with the affected communities and the hostile groups perpetrating these assaults. Communities across the DRC are already grappling with outbreaks of diseases, malnutrition, and displacement resulting from decades of violent unrest instigated by numerous active armed groups in the resource-rich region.

Earlier this week, WHO condemned attacks against frontline healthcare workers and community awareness officers, including an incident in Cantine-Aloya, North Kivu, where 66 civilians, including three health workers, lost their lives, and two health facilities were looted. Two weeks prior, a nurse was killed and another health worker injured during an Ebola alert response in Tshopo province.

Other attacks included an arson attempt on a treatment center and stones hurled at a vehicle used for conducting safe and dignified burials, underscoring the critical need to establish trust with extremely vulnerable communities. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed earlier this week that the DRC Ebola outbreak, declared in May, has become the largest to date, spreading more rapidly than any previous outbreak in the vast country's east and northeast provinces.

Over 11,000 cases have been confirmed, with more than 5,000 fatalities. Concurrently, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned that nearly 29 million people in DRC face acute food insecurity, predominantly in conflict-affected and Ebola-stricken eastern and northeastern provinces. This alarming figure is expected to rise, according to Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis.

Bauer informed journalists via video in Geneva that conflict is exacerbating the hunger crisis, alongside the Ebola outbreak. He stressed the urgent need for access and resources to prevent the situation from deteriorating further in DRC. Latest UN-backed food insecurity assessments suggest that between January and June 2027, 30.3 million people will be in crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity, with 4.2 million experiencing emergency levels of hunger.

The most acute needs are concentrated in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces, driven by persistent conflict and large-scale displacement. Bauer noted that while Ebola is one of many disease outbreaks in DRC, it is further compounding the hunger crisis for communities already struggling to obtain adequate sustenance. Families are being displaced, severed from their farms and livelihoods, experiencing rising food prices, and finding it increasingly challenging to afford a meal.