UNICEF already on the ground to respond to latest Ebola case in eastern DRC

GOMA, 9 OCTOBER 2021 – The Congolese government confirmed yesterday that a three-year-old child died of Ebola on 6 October in Beni, one of the epicenters of the last Ebola outbreak that ended on 3 May 2021.

UNICEF staff are already on the ground to respond to this latest resurgence of Ebola. Additional staff will be travelling to Beni this weekend in support to the first-line response through community mobilization, infection control and decontamination activities.

The UN Children’s agency will ship medical equipment, water, sanitation, and infection control supplies to the affected areas. Three trucks loaded with crucial equipment will depart to Beni tomorrow, carrying 160 cubic meters of vital WASH and nutrition supplies such as large capacity water tanks, buckets with tap, personal protective equipment, gloves, masks, boots, chlorine to treat water, soap bars and antibiotics.

Through well-established networks of Community Action Cells (CACs), UNICEF will also support communication activities, tracking and tracing efforts to prevent contamination and further infections.

Congolese health authorities confirmed that the three-year-old child died in a health center in the Butsili Health Area, not far from Beni, where he was admitted with Ebola-like symptoms at the beginning of October. A GeneXpert test performed in Goma confirmed that the 3-year-old boy had Ebola.

Twelve people were infected and six people died over the course of the last Ebola resurgence earlier this year, which lasted nearly three months in the Biena, Katwa, Musienene and Butembo Health Zones of North Kivu province.