<\/p>\n
More than 130 days into the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak, cases recorded over the latest 21-day period fell by about 26% in Ituri and 15% in Haut-Uele.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
North Kivu, however, recorded a 73% increase over the same period. The virus has been confirmed in seven provinces. \u201cWhile cases and deaths are declining in some provinces, they continue to rise in others,\u201d WHO Regional Emergency Director for Africa Dr Marie Roseline Belizaire said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThose patterns show the outbreak is still not under control and remains spread across a wide geographic area.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About one in three new infections is identified only after a person has died outside an Ebola treatment centre. \u201cOne of our greatest concerns is that too many people are still dying before reaching treatment,\u201d Belizaire said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are lives that could potentially have been saved through earlier detection and timely access to care.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Deaths in communities also increase transmission risks among relatives, caregivers and people involved in traditional burial practices.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Children under five face the highest fatality rate at more than 60%, compared with about 40% among adults.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHO Medical Officer Dr Catherine Smallwood said infections were more difficult to identify in young children because symptoms could be unclear and children might struggle to communicate how they felt. \u201cWe must do more to identify sick children earlier and ensure that they receive appropriate treatment without delay. Early detection saves lives,\u201d Belizaire said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tracing of contacts linked to infected people has improved to almost 88%. However, many new infections still have no known epidemiological connection. \u201cClosing the surveillance gap is essential if we are to detect cases earlier, trace their contacts and interrupt every chain of transmission,\u201d Belizaire said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The response now includes nearly 1 400 treatment and isolation beds across 49 Ebola treatment centres. Another 25 laboratories can process up to 2 500 tests daily.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, shortages of healthcare workers remain a major obstacle, particularly in remote communities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOur response is no longer simply about scaling up everywhere,\u201d Belizaire said. \u201cIt is about directing teams, expertise and resources to the areas where transmission is greatest and where the risks are high.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smallwood called for services to shift from Beni, Butembo and Katwa towards affected villages. \u201cWe really need to prioritise decentralising the response to where the cases are, into the villages and local areas,\u201d Smallwood said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44432,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-46296","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ebola infections are declining in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but a sharp increase in North Kivu shows the outbreak remains uncontrolled, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.","published_date":"","news_description":"Ebola infections are declining in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but a sharp increase in North Kivu shows the outbreak remains uncontrolled, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46297,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46296\/revisions\/46297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}