One week after the most recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was declared over, the government confirmed new cases of the deadly virus in North Kivu. International Medical Corps' Emergency Response Team (ERT) was already in DRC responding to the most recent outbreak, in Equateur Province. The ERT is now working in North Kivu with the Ministry of Health to help with infection prevention, monitoring and surveillance, and building local response capacity.
One week after the most recent Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was declared over, new cases of the virus were confirmed by the Ministry of Health in North Kivu. As of August 13, there have 66 total cases have been reported, including 42 deaths. The new outbreak is in a province more than 1500 miles from the earlier outbreak, and is home to more than 1.1 million internally displaced people and refugees fleeing violence and conflict across the region.
International Medical Corps' Emergency Response Team is on the ground in Kinshasa, Mbandaka and in North Kivu, and is working in support of the DRC Ministry of Health to mobilize a multi-disciplinary response to help save lives and contain the virus. This includes launching an Ebola training program for frontline healthcare workers, providing health facilities with the tools to fight infectious disease, and establishing screening, referral, and isolation units in Ebola-affected areas.
Training frontline health workers and establishing screening and referral units will help give communities the skills and knowledge they need to manage Ebola and better respond future outbreaks of the deadly disease. International Medical Corps gained extensive experience training local health workers in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and will apply this expertise in the DRC to build the capacity of the health system in preparation for future crises.
