The World Health Organization (WHO) says the ongoing Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has recorded more than 7,700 cases and 3,700 deaths.
Director, Emergency Preparedness and Response, WHO African Region, Dr Marie Belizaire, said this on Wednesday during a virtual briefing on the outbreak, saying the situation remained a significant health security concern.
Ms Belizaire said the outbreak, declared 131 days earlier, had recently shown encouraging signs in some locations, though the overall situation remained unstable as cases and deaths continued increasing in some affected provinces.
She said between August 31 and September 20, cases declined by approximately 26 per cent in Ituri and 15 per cent in Hoveli, while North Kivu recorded a 73 per cent increase during the period.
According to her, the contrasting trends demonstrated that the outbreak was evolving differently across affected areas, with each province experiencing distinct transmission patterns requiring locally adapted response strategies.
Ms Belizaire said one of WHO’s major concerns was that too many people were still dying before reaching treatment centres, with about one-third of new cases identified only after death in communities.
She explained that community deaths increased the risk of further transmission among family members, caregivers and people involved in burial practices, making early detection, referral and safe burial critical components of the response.
The WHO official said children under five were particularly vulnerable, recording a case fatality rate of more than 60 per cent compared with approximately 40 per cent among adults.
She said contact follow-up had reached almost 88 per cent, representing an improvement, but many infections were still being detected without known epidemiological links, indicating continuing gaps in surveillance and contact tracing.
Ms Belizaire said WHO and partners had expanded response infrastructure to nearly 1,400 treatment and isolation beds across 49 Ebola treatment centres, while 25 laboratories could process up to 3,500 tests daily.
Also, WHO Ebola Incident Manager in the DRC, Dr Catherine Smallwood, said shortages of human resources remained one of the biggest challenges, particularly as additional treatment beds became available and required qualified personnel.
Ms Smallwood said another major challenge was decentralising the response from urban centres to rural communities where cases were occurring, noting that long distances often delayed referrals and prevented patients from receiving timely treatment.
She said North Kivu was experiencing a significant proportion of cases among children under five, whose symptoms could be difficult to recognise because young children were unable to clearly explain their symptoms.
Ms Smallwood said health authorities were also concerned about community deaths in North Kivu and were strengthening surveillance systems and community engagement to understand why patients continued remaining at home instead of seeking treatment.
She, however, said early signs of declining cases and deaths in North Kivu after several weeks of increases were encouraging, adding that sustained improvements would gradually reduce pressure on treatment centres and the wider health system.
The WHO’s latest situation report put the cumulative total at 7,733 confirmed cases and 3,732 deaths as of September 20, with the outbreak having spread to 63 health zones.
(NAN)
Nigeria ranks bottom in Africa as only 12% approve of Tinubu’s electricity performance: Report
Less than 50 per cent of Africans report reliable electricity access, and Nigeria ranks among the countries where citizens have the lowest confidence in their government’s performance in the sector, according to a recent Afrobarometer report.
According to the pan-African research network, the survey was conducted across 38 African countries to assess electricity access and citizens’ views on government policies on the issue between 2024 and 2025.
The report found that only 43 per cent of respondents said they enjoyed a supply of electricity that worked “most” or “all” of the time in the year under review, including just 26 per cent of rural residents and 27 per cent of poor citizens.
In Nigeria, only 10 per cent of households reported having electricity that worked every time under President Bola Tinubu between 2024 and 2025; 53 per cent said it worked occasionally, while 37 per cent had no connection to the grid.
Madagascar (nine per cent), Sierra Leone (eight per cent), Guinea (seven per cent), Mali (six per cent), Zambia (four per cent), and Chad (three per cent) were the other countries with worse electricity reliability than Nigeria during the period.
Mauritius, Seychelles, Morocco, Tunisia, and Cape Verde ranked highest on the continent, with more than 80 per cent of households having a reliable electricity supply.
The study also revealed that Nigeria ranked joint last among 38 countries in assessments of government performance in providing a reliable electricity supply. Only one in eight Nigerians, or 12 per cent, gave Mr Tinubu pass marks for his government’s performance on electricity.
Overall, only 45 per cent of respondents said their government is performing “fairly well” or “very well” on providing a reliable electricity supply, while 54 per cent said it was doing a poor job.
Mauritius (92 per cent), Morocco (84 per cent), Seychelles (80 per cent), and Botswana (75 per cent) stood out with high approval ratings.
Additionally, about seven in 10 Africans (72 per cent) live in areas served by an electric grid, ranging from just 29 per cent in Chad to 100 per cent in Tunisia, Mauritius, Eswatini and Cape Verde. Nigeria recorded 67 per cent.