On 2 August 2019 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, staff at the Katwa Ebola Treatment Unit in Butembo, North Kivu disinfect an ambulance.
In the first year of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, from August 2018 to July 2019, UNICEF provided lead support to the Government in the Psychosocial Commission based in Goma with sub-commissions in other areas in North Kivu and Ituri affected by the epidemic. The mobilization of psychosocial assistants and psychologists to provide direct and individualized support to Ebola affected children and families has been the key strategy of MHPSS response. Psychosocial assistants as the backbone of the psychosocial response, represent an important contribution from the child protection sector in a public health response. This function has proved not only adept in creating trust and confidence with the families and communities affected - but also in facilitating access from other more sensitive areas of intervention like de-contamination, vaccination, safe and dignified burials. The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) strategy aims to stop the spread of the disease through the provision of WASH in public and private health care facilities plus reinforcement of basic WASH services, which includes the provision of water and WASH kits and awareness raising of traditional practitioners hygiene promotion and provision of WASH kits in schools , WASH in communities through mass outreach on hygiene promotion and the setup of handwashing stations/ temperature check points in strategic transit locations, and joint supervision of health infrastructures to ensure that efficient and sustainable programmes of high quality are developed. The education strategy involves key EVD prevention measures on schools, including the mapping of schools to identify their proximity to a confirmed case and identification of schools in the affected health areas, training of educational actors (students, teachers,
La Repubblica democratica del Congo ha dichiarato la conclusione della dodicesima epidemia di Ebola. Il vaccino ha limitato i contagi
La dodicesima epidemia di ebola in Repubblica democratica del Congo è stata dichiarata conclusa. Lo ha annunciato il ministro della Sanità, Jean-Jacques Mbungani, ricordando che la febbre emorragica che ha colpito il Nord Kivu ha causato 12 casi di contagio, sei dei quali si sono conclusi con il decesso del paziente.
Il focolaio di ebola, spiega la Dire (www.dire.it), è stato reso noto il 6 febbraio nelle città di varie città della provincia, tra cui la popolosa Butembo. Il ministro ha spiegato che “la risposta all’epidemia è stata influenzata dalla pandemia di Covid-19, che non ha risparmiato il nostro Paese”. Contro ebola è stato sviluppato un vaccino già impiegato per la precedente epidemia, che ha permesso di contenere la diffusione dei casi.
