Hundreds of millions of dollars meant to help tackle Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo are not reaching the intended recipients, a medical charity has warned.<\/p>\n
A report from M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res (MSF) said that while the outbreak remained “out of control”, front-line workers were going unpaid, lacked proper training and were struggling with shortages of essential supplies.<\/p>\n
It added that in some cases ambulances had run out of fuel.<\/p>\n
More than 5,400 people have died and 11,000 infected with Ebola in DR Congo since the outbreak was declared in May.<\/p>\n
This makes it the second-most deadly outbreak of the disease ever recorded.<\/p>\n
MSF has urged the Congolese government and UN agencies to “strengthen oversight and accountability” to ensure money already disbursed is effectively utilised.<\/p>\n
This means “ensuring response personnel are properly trained, paid, equipped, and supported, and directing resources towards areas where needs are greatest”, it said.<\/p>\n
The BBC has asked the Congolese government for comment.<\/p>\n
MSF’s warning adds to concerns raised by Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) last month, when it said that $700m (\u00a3527m) out of $962m disbursed to organisations implementing Ebola response was unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
At the time, Africa CDC chief Jean Kaseya said it was too early to describe it as embezzlement, characterising the issue as a major transparency and financial reporting failure.<\/p>\n
The Congolese health minister echoed these concerns, saying that aid agencies were required to provide details of their work so the ministry could provide oversight but that only 22% had done so.<\/p>\n
“Our requirement is clear: transparency must be total. The response relies on a single plan, a single budget, and a single coordination,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said on X.<\/p>\n
In its report, the charity said: “Despite the vast amounts of money provided for the response, many frontline responders are left trying to contain the outbreak with empty hands and empty pockets.”<\/p>\n
It also mentioned Ebola monitoring “surveillance teams that exist on paper but are nowhere to be seen on the ground”.<\/p>\n
“Our teams are often left speechless by the dysfunctions they witness in many areas. Six months into the response, this situation is simply unacceptable,” said MSF president Javid Abdelmoneim.<\/p>\n
One important way of stopping Ebola from spreading is contact tracing – finding all those people who had come into contact with an infected person and putting them into isolation.<\/p>\n
“Despite the resources officially allocated to this critical activity, surveillance remains deeply problematic,” MSF said, adding that two-thirds of deaths were occurring in communities not treatment centres.<\/p>\n
According to British epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, more than half of the cases are going undetected, meaning the outbreak is likely to last another year, reports the Reuters news agency<\/p>\n
MSF also raised concerns over “excessive concentration” of efforts in certain areas at the expense of other areas where needs were more urgent.<\/p>\n
It said the response was “too slow” in North Kivu province while Haut-U\u00e9l\u00e9 remained “dramatically overlooked”.<\/p>\n
In both provinces, MSF observed that teams were “inadequately resourced to respond effectively” with health facilities lacking essential items such as water, chlorine or triage systems.<\/p>\n
“This has turned some facilities into new centres of transmission, rather than places of care that contribute to containing the disease,” MSF said.<\/p>\n
The epicentre of the outbreak is in eastern DR Congo, which has been wracked by conflict for many decades, with some affected areas under rebel control.<\/p>\n
There are very few good roads in the area, making it very hard to travel around.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the UN and government warned that the areas worst affected by Ebola were also suffering from a severe food crisis, with almost 10 million in the region in dire need.<\/p>\n
The latest outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo species of the virus, has spread beyond DR Congo borders, with cases reported in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the last person infected with Ebola in Kenya was discharged, marking a major milestone in efforts to contain the disease in the East African nation.<\/p>\n
The Bundibugyo species is relatively rare and has no approved vaccine or treatment – though trials are under way.<\/p>\n
Source: BBC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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