UN humanitarian affairs chief Tom Fletcher has issued a public warning that “The world needs to wake up and show up,” when it comes to responding to the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In an article entitled ‘Ebola is winning’: Epidemic now killing one person every 30 minutes Mr. Fletcher warns that: “We cannot let the virus outrun our response.”
Other key points in the article include:
- The Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the fastest-growing on record.
- Declared on 15 May by national authorities in the DRC, the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak has now killed 2,184 people – nearly 47% of those who have been infected.
- Six of the DRC’s 26 provinces have recorded Ebola cases, and Uganda has reported 20 cases.
In order to protect lives across the region, Mr. Fletcher said the UN and its partners responding to Ebola must double the number of teams ensuring safe and dignified burials, triple the treatment capacity, improve contact tracing, and deploy more experienced managers.
For resilience professionals the situation in the DRC may seem a remote risk, but with current control measures failing and with such a virulent virus at the heart of the epidemic, the Ebola outbreak requires monitoring.
