Ebola stalks the Democratic Republic of Congo with over 1,000 deaths being reported
Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Countless ethnic issues and a plethora of different militias that stalk the country blight the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the same time, enormous poverty, a weak centralized state, lack of health care facilities, and other negatives, continue to hinder this nation. Therefore, with the growing menace of Ebola spreading in eastern parts of the DRC, the menace of various militias and enormous distrust are exacerbating the threat.
It is known that the death toll from Ebola is now over 1,000 people and it appears that this figure will continue to grow. Dr. Michael Ryan, the deputy director of the World Health Organization (WHO), acknowledged that health workers face mounting distrust and ongoing violence is a real problem. This notably applies to eastern parts of the DRC where Ebola is spreading.
Sadly, not only is Ebola responsible for the loss of life of over 1,000 people, but measles is also known to have taken a similar number of lives throughout vast parts of the DRC. Hence, it is essential that international support and regional political initiatives be taken to ease the crisis.
The BBC reports, “The DRC is also suffering from an outbreak of measles which has killed more than 1,000 people, with 50,000 cases reported. WHO staff have confirmed measles in 14 of the country’s 26 provinces, in both rural and urban areas.”
Normally, Ebola outbreaks are contained and limited in scale. Yet, the epidemic that hit West Africa between 2013 and 2016 was different in scope and scale. In time, over 11,300 people were killed during this crisis. Hence, with the Ebola outbreak already lasting eight months in the DRC, then clearly the growing numbers of deaths is extremely worrisome in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Therefore, with eastern areas of the DRC being blighted by conflict the fear is that the Ebola crisis could spread further. Indeed, the WHO is hinting that Ebola could spread to regional nations if the situation isn’t contained.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-48155280
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