Statement of the IHR Emergency Committee Meeting on Ebola Virus Disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Remarks by Dr. Ibrahim Socé Fall, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, Emergency Response

Good afternoon.

I hope your busy week on Tuesday is interrupted, as is mine, by a moment of joy.

At that moment, there was a celebration of a woman fired from an Ebola treatment center in Bena. Her name is Masika.

She was the last person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to confirm that she had Ebola.

Healthcare professionals and others responsible have sacrificed a lot to get to this point.

Since the epidemic was declared in August 2018, there have been 420 attacks on health facilities in the DRC, resulting in 11 deaths and 86 injuries among healthcare professionals and patients.

It was huge. At the height of the epidemic, more than 120 cases were reported each week. 28 health zones were affected and cases were 1,200 kilometers away. Responding to:

• There are 11 testing laboratories set up around 3500 samples each week
• Eleven Ebola Centers have been set up to help treat people with Ebola
• 300,000 people have been vaccinated
• 250,000 contacts have been registered
• 26,000 safe and dignified burials were made
• More than 3,000 healthcare facilities have been identified to support infection prevention and control
• More than 1000 metric tonnes of stock were shipped
• An Ebola vaccine was allowed, and two treatments were found to be very effective
• Nearly 160 million people have been screened for Ebola symptoms at borders or other control points

This work continues. The spill is not over. WHO recommends waiting for two full incubation periods – that is 42 days – after the last person tested negative for the second time before declaring an epidemic.

We must remain in active response mode to push us beyond the finish line.

We need to be prepared for other emergent cases. This is a very real risk.

Remember that during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, new cases emerged after the epidemic ended.

There are four reasons why new cases may occur during this 42-day period or even after the epidemic has ended.

• First, due to the complex security environment, it is possible to transmit Ebola outside of controlled groups.
• Second, the Ebola virus can persist on used needles, syringes or vials for several weeks.
• Third, the Ebola virus can survive in the body fluids of many months surviving, and it can be transmitted after recovery, or in rare cases it can result in a recurrence of the disease – as we have already seen during this epidemic.
• Finally, the Ebola virus is present in the animal accumulation in the region, and there is always a risk of new spillovers.

Therefore, it is crucial to maintain the capacity for surveillance and rapid response.

And this is what we do We are still in full response mode.

In addition to the activities I have already mentioned, I must emphasize how critical it is to continue to support a survival program that provides after-care for almost all 1169 survivors in the 26 health areas of North Kivu and Ituri. The program also helps reduce the risk of reintroduction.

We must continue this work until the end of the epidemic, in order to maintain the capacity to respond quickly to the onset of the explosion, to retain support for survivors after the outbreak, and to move the capacity built in this response to build a stronger health system.

But to be honest, the world is currently risking throwing a booth at the finish line. WHO faces a current funding gap of $ 20 million. If we do not get new resources, we will run out of money before the end of the epidemic.

We appreciate the generosity of the donors who have supported the response since August 2018. We must now cross the target. The WHO is calling on the international community to help us end this epidemic and to keep our promises to communities to build a stronger health system.

If we are forced to downsize operations due to lack of funds and then a new case arises, we might not have the people and resources in the field to shut down the transmission quickly. Only one case could reignite the epidemic.

That would be a tragedy. An avoidable tragedy.

It is important for the global community not only to focus on current threats, but to step down when the threat is gone.

The health system must be strong to stop much more than Ebola. They need to stop malaria, measles, cholera and now COVID-19.

It still has a lot of work to do.

Thank you.