WHO Calls Attention to Health Worker Gaps Amid DRC Ebola Outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing a shortage of health workers to staff treatment centres as the country battles its fastest-growing Ebola outbreak, with cases in North Kivu province rising by 73 per cent in three weeks.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the alarm, saying the outbreak remains uncontrolled despite a decline in cases in some provinces.

According to the latest government figures, the outbreak has spread to seven provinces, recording 7,773 confirmed cases and 3,759 deaths.

WHO Regional Emergency Director for Africa, Marie Roseline Belizaire, said cases declined by 26 per cent in Ituri Province and 15 per cent in Haut-Uele between Aug. 31 and Sept. 20.

Belizaire, however, said transmission patterns continued to vary significantly across the affected areas.

“While cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others. The outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area,” she said.

The WHO said the outbreak is being aggravated by insecurity, population displacement, a strike by health workers and increased population movements.

It said the outbreak was on course to surpass the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which remains the deadliest on record, killing more than 11,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Catherine Smallwood, WHO’s Ebola Incident Manager, said cases and deaths had started declining in North Kivu after several weeks of increases.

She said although treatment beds were being added daily, health facilities continued to face shortages of personnel and operational partners needed to run them.