Three months after it was officially declared, the Ebola outbreak ravaging the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached an unprecedented scale in the country. With nearly 5,000 cases and 2,300 deaths recorded, the situation continues to deteriorate. The outbreak is spreading rapidly, with between 50 and 100 new cases and nearly 30 deaths per day, making this the most serious crisis ever recorded in the DRC.
The decline in people seeking medical care is undermining the response to Ebola
Since the outbreak was declared, statistics from health centers supported by Action Against Hunger show a significant drop in patient numbers. “In the health centres in Mongbwalu, integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) has fallen from 87 per cent of admissions in April to 44 per cent in June,” explains Julie Drouet, Country Director for Action Against Hunger Democratic Republic of Congo.
This situation can be attributed to several factors: fear of becoming infected in healthcare facilities, mistrust of the response measures put in place, and fear of being referred to Ebola treatment centers. These fears are causing many people to delay seeking medical care. Treatment centers are still widely associated with death, leading some families to hide their sick relatives, delay their transfer to appropriate facilities or turn to traditional healers as a first resort.
“These traditional healers or private practitioners largely fall outside the health authorities’ surveillance system. Infection prevention and control measures are often non-existent in such settings, creating a breeding ground for new cases. This lack of monitoring makes contact tracing, as well as the identification and management of infected people, considerably more difficult,” explains Julie Drouet.
“At the same time, this decline in the use of healthcare services risks leading to an increase in mortality from other preventable and treatable conditions, particularly among children and pregnant women,” she adds.
Case monitoring is currently one of the main challenges facing the response. According to available data, only 80.51 % of those affected are being monitored, a figure below the targets set by the Ministry of Health. “Many patients die in their communities without having sought medical attention, which makes it very difficult to identify their contacts.”
The Impact of Ebola on Livelihoods
The restrictions put in place to contain the Ebola outbreak are severely affecting the livelihoods of artisanal miners, small traders, motorbike taxi drivers and other workers in the informal sector who depend on their daily earnings to survive.
“For a motorbike taxi driver, a market vendor or a gold miner, a day in isolation is a day without food for their children. Here, hunger is often seen as a more immediate threat than the virus itself,” reports Julie Drouet.
For households living on daily earnings, the closure of markets or the temporary suspension of economic activity can quickly lead to severe food insecurity and widespread economic hardship.
As the outbreak continues to spread, it is essential to view Ebola not only as a health emergency, but also as a crisis with major social, psychological and humanitarian consequences. In response to this emergency, Action Against Hunger is focusing on building community trust, supporting affected families and promoting public health measures, which are essential for preventing the disease. The organization is continuing its emergency operations in the health centers of Mongbwalu, Lita, and Drodro by improving access to water, carrying out prevention and community awareness-raising activities, supporting health and nutrition services, and providing psychosocial support to affected communities.
