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On the eve of a planned ceremony with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kinshasa, Health Minister Oly Ilunga announced the good news: the end of this episode of Ebola declared on May 8 in the north-west, which will have killed 33 people, for a total of 54 cases.
"After a 42-day observation period, with no new confirmed cases recorded, and in accordance with international health regulations, I declare to from this day, July 24, 2018, the end of the epidemic of Ebola virus disease in the province of Ecuador, "he said in a statement on national television RTNC.
WHO congratulated "the country and all those involved in the end of the epidemic". Its director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will be present Wednesday in Kinshasa to mark the end of the epidemic with the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The final badessment appears as a lesser evil, since the Congolese authorities had prepared with their partners "in the worst case scenario" facing an "unprecedented" crisis with this epidemic that affected Ecuador, on the border of Congo-Brazzaville.
The anxiety was at its height when the disease, part of Isolated areas in the equatorial forest, gained from May 16 a large urban center, the provincial capital Mbandaka and its 1.2 million inhabitants, directly connected to Kinshasa and its 10 million inhabitants by the Congo River. 19659002] "Unlike previous epidemics, it affected four different places, including an urban center in river connection with the capital and neighboring countries, as well as villages. In the early days, there was a strong concern that the disease could spread to other parts of the DRC, and to neighboring countries ", summarizes the WHO.
WHO was criticized for being late to respond to the worst Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa in 2013-14
Two weeks after the announcement of the outbreak, WHO and Congolese authorities launched a targeted vaccination targeting health care workers, patient contacts and contact contacts – 3,300 people in total
Vaccine and mobilization
Used for the first time, the Ebola vaccine, still experimental, has been a "fantastic tool", but it has played only a "small role" in the fight against the epidemic in the DRC, told AFP Michael Ryan, Deputy Director General at WHO
In the opinion of the Congolese authorities and the WHO, the effectiveness part of the response is a rapid and aggressive humanitarian response, with "extremely rapid deployment of national teams and international field workers", according to Ryan.
Throughout the epidemic, WHO and the NGOs were careful to recall that the DRC was providing the "leadership" of the response, so as not to offend Kinshasa's susceptibility.
In April, just before the epidemic, the Congolese authorities had boycotted a conference humanitarian aid for the DRC, accusing the UN and NGOs of exaggerating the humanitarian crisis in the country.
"This effective response to the Ebola disease should convince the Congolese government and its partners that it is possible to other epidemics, "said WHO Director-General
As in many African countries, malaria kills thousands of people every year in the DRC. The country is also facing a cholera outbreak that affected Kinshasa earlier this year.
Twenty-six cases of polio have also been recorded in recent months in the DRC, unwanted "derivatives" of the vaccine administered to millions
This epidemic of Ebola fever is the ninth on Congolese soil since the virus was identified there in 1976.
One of the most violent had it in 2007, where the haemorrhagic fever had particularly in Kasaï Occidental (center) between April and October, making 187 deaths out of 264 cases listed.
The Congolese epidemic is the second outbreak of Ebola since the terrible epidemic that hit West Africa between December 2013 and 2014, causing more than 11,300 deaths in 29,000 cases, more than 99% in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
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