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World Health Organisation director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Saturday, arriving at the epicentre of the country’s severe Ebola outbreak.
Tedros travelled directly to Bunia, the capital of heavily hit Ituri province, to support and listen to the communities facing the brunt of the crisis.
The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has already spread across three eastern DRC provinces and into neighbouring Uganda, where officials have recorded nine confirmed infections and one death.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that the DRC has accumulated at least 1,077 suspected Ebola cases and 246 deaths since declaring the outbreak on May 15.
Tedros emphasised to reporters that while the international community assists under the DRC government’s leadership, local community ownership remains vital to halting the disease.
He stated that his team intends to discuss the ongoing response with residents, evaluate how operations are running, and help resolve any challenges.
However, the WHO warns that the true scale of the outbreak likely extends much further because the virus circulated for some time before medical teams detected it.
The vast and politically unstable nation faces steep hurdles in controlling the disease, particularly in its eastern region, which has suffered from three decades of conflict.
These ongoing security issues and financial constraints severely limit the country’s capacity to conduct the laboratory tests necessary to confirm cases.
