ASSESSMENTS

In Eastern Congo, Violence Plagues Anti-Ebola Efforts

Sep 26, 2019 | 10:00 GMT

Red Cross members visit families in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to listen to their fear of the Ebola virus on Aug. 31, 2019.

Red Cross members visit families in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to listen to their fear of the Ebola virus on Aug. 31. The Congo's inability to establish control over its easternmost territories has exacerbated the country's current Ebola outbreak.

(ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Active internal conflicts in the eastern regions most affected by the Democratic Republic of the Congo's current Ebola outbreak will continue to limit the reach of preventive measures and international vaccination efforts.
  • The Congolese government's inability — and reluctance — to secure these remote areas risks enabling the spread of Ebola into urban areas and neighboring countries by prompting an outpouring of refugees.
  • The Congolese government will continue to focus its limited resources on threats to its political authority and lucrative mining industry, leaving the country's east vulnerable to future security and health emergencies.

In July, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo an international emergency. Of the more than 3,000 confirmed cases to date, the virus has taken the lives of more than 2,000 people -- making it the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history. And while the spread of the disease has weakened in recent months, the crisis is far from over, as new cases continue to emerge and fuel the threat of contagion. A number of international and nongovernmental organizations have attempted to contain the virus through an ambitious preventive campaign, which has so far helped vaccinate 225,000 people in the country. But experts have argued this number is still insufficient to fully stamp out the virus, since it represents only a small portion of the approximately 10 million people who inhabit the affected Congolese provinces of Ituri and North Kivu. Plans...

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