DRC Announces End of Ebola Epidemic, "Worst Case" Avoided

Kinshasa announced on Tuesday the end of the ninth epidemic of Ebola virus disease on Congolese soil for which the "worst case scenario" was avoided thanks to rapid mobilization and recourse, for the first time, to a vaccine against this haemorrhagic fever.

On the eve of a ceremony planned with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kinshasa, the Minister of Health Oly Ilunga announced the good news: the end of this episode of Ebola reported on May 8 in the northwest, 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 regulations international health, I declare from today, July 24, 2018, the end of the epidemic of the 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 on Wednesday in Kinshasa to mark the end of the epidemic with the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The final assessment appears as a lesser evil, since the Congolese authorities had prepared with their partners "in the worst case scenario" in the face of 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. 19659003] "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 2013-14, in West Africa

Two weeks after the outbreak of the new epidemic, 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, was a "fantastic tool", but he played only a "small role" in the fight against the epidemic in the DRC, told AFP Michael Ryan, deputy director general at the WHO

In the opinion of the Congolese authorities and WHO, the effectiveness of 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 NGOs have been 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 outbreak, the Congolese authorities had boycotted a humanitarian conference for the benefit of 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 coping with 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