KINSHASA, Congo\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Limited access and scarce funds are the key challenges facing health officials trying to respond to the latest Ebola outbreak in southern Congo, according to the World Health Organization. <\/p>\n
It is the first Ebola outbreak in 18 years in Kasai province, a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo with poor road networks that is more than 600 miles from the nation\u2019s capital of Kinshasa.<\/p>\n
A United Nations peacekeeping helicopter was used to help deliver 400 vaccine doses Friday to the outbreak\u2019s epicenter, in the locality of Bulape, said Patrick Otim, the WHO\u2019s program area manager, at a briefing in Geneva. <\/p>\n
An additional 1,500 doses will be sent from Kinshasa, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have struggled in the last seven days with access but are collaborating with MONUSCO now,\u201d Otim said, referring to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo. <\/p>\n
While the WHO and Congolese authorities have \u201cramped up efforts to have a full-scale response\u201d he added, \u201cwe need to be able to pay for the operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the outbreak was confirmed Sept. 4, the number of suspected cases has increased from 28 to 68, Africa\u2019s top health agency said Thursday. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has so far reported 16 deaths.<\/p>\n
Otim said the most recent confirmed case was about 40 miles from the current epicenter, but in the same province. \u201cOur worry is if we get cases in the other health zone, we need to expand and it will be resource-intensive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The WHO\u2019s projected cost for the outbreak over the next three months is $20 million, while Congo\u2019s national response plan is estimated at $78 million, said Otim.<\/p>\n
A major concern for health officials has been the effect of recent U.S. funding cuts. The United States had supported the response to Congo\u2019s past Ebola outbreaks, including in 2021 when the U.S. Agency for International Development provided up to $11.5 million to support efforts across Africa. USAID has seen drastic funding cuts since President Trump took office in January. <\/p>\n
Protecting healthcare workers<\/p>\n
At least four health workers are among the confirmed cases, according to Mathias Mossoko, Congo\u2019s Ebola response coordinator in Bulape. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor now, our priority is to vaccinate healthcare workers. Given the number of cases and deaths among healthcare providers, protecting these front-line workers is essential to ensure the population receives adequate care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At least 94% of the suspected cases\u2019 contacts \u2014 more than 600 people \u2014 have been traced, with only one so far confirmed to be infected, Mossoko said, adding that there\u2019s minimal risk of the disease spreading to other provinces.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage, it is not yet appropriate to declare a public health emergency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said its team is assisting in the response and worked with the WHO to establish an Ebola treatment center at the Bulape hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe helped reinforce triage protocols, supplied essential medicines and personal protective equipment, and conducted training in infection prevention and control and symptomatic care,\u201d said Brice de le Vingne, the group\u2019s emergency coordinator.<\/p>\n
Asadu and Alonga write for the Associated Press and reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Kinshasa, respectively. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINSHASA, Congo\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Limited access and scarce funds are the key challenges facing health officials trying to respond to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5684,76376,49,48,13455,67439,428,8745,76380,76374,76378,84,76379,76377,1170,15016,76375,34016],"class_list":["post-142458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-africa","tag-bulape","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-case","tag-congo","tag-death","tag-disease","tag-disease-control","tag-epicenter","tag-full-scale-response","tag-health","tag-kinshasa","tag-late-ebola-outbreak","tag-official","tag-outbreak","tag-patrick-otim","tag-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}