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The Democratic Republic of Congo will keep schools open in its eastern provinces, even though an Ebola outbreak has killed at least five students since mid-May, according to Health Minister Roger Kamba.
While in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, Kamba said the government will focus on better prevention in schools instead of closing them. He said the student deaths happened because of self-medication and waiting too long to get medical help. He asked families to take suspected cases to health centers right away.
"We are not going to close schools. We are going to put in place preventive measures so as not to punish children twice," Kamba told reporters.
The current outbreak, which started on May 15, is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) says this strain has a fatality rate between 30% and 50% among confirmed cases. Most cases are in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.
WHO figures show at least 134 confirmed cases in this outbreak across the DRC and neighboring Uganda. Uganda has reported nine infections, including one death. Since the outbreak began, Congolese health officials have counted over 1,000 suspected cases. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were at least 1,077 suspected cases and 246 deaths in the DRC as of Thursday.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus visited Bunia on Saturday to see the response for himself. He said the international community is supporting the DRC government but stressed that local involvement remains very important.
"We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help," Tedros said.
The WHO has warned that the outbreak may be larger than reported because the DRC lacks sufficient labs to confirm all cases. The organization also said the virus was probably spreading before it was officially found.
The outbreak is occurring amid ongoing instability in eastern DRC. Ituri province, the hardest hit, has problems with violence from ADF militants linked to the Daesh terror cell and other armed groups. North and South Kivu provinces have also had almost constant conflict for thirty years, with large areas controlled by the Rwanda-backed group M23.
Almost a million displaced people are living in Ituri province, many in camps with poor hygiene. Health officials say these conditions make it easier for the disease to spread quickly.
"If Ebola comes, we'll be wiped out as we're packed like sardines," said Dorcas Mapenzi, a resident of the Kingonze displacement camp on the outskirts of Bunia.
This week, Uganda closed its border with the DRC and started a 21-day quarantine for people arriving from there. On Friday, the WHO said that one patient had recovered, tested negative twice, and was discharged. This is the first confirmed recovery in the current outbreak.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment yet for the Bundibugyo strain. However, the head of the Africa CDC said on Thursday that a vaccine should be ready by the end of the year.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said this outbreak had more cases in its first days than any earlier Ebola epidemic. They also warned that there are still not enough medical experts in the region.
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